Sea Turtles off the Georgia Coast, 2002

In early July, Dr. Sharon Deem returned to Brunswick, Georgia, to work with Dr. Terry Norton, WCS veterinarian for Saint Catherine’s Island, and Dr. Al Segars, a veterinarian working for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The three veterinarians headed out into the Atlantic and spent a week off the coast of Georgia and Florida aboard the “Georgia Bulldog,” a shrimping vessel owned and operated by the University of Georgia. Three students, one marine biologist, and three crew members joined the trio of vets on the ship.  During their time in the Atlantic, the team safely captured 23 loggerhead turtles and 1 Kemp’s ridley turtle as part of a three year collaborative project of South Carolina DNR, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the US Department of Commerce. 

All 24 turtles received a thorough work up, including morphometric measurements, tagging for future identification, and a physical examination with biomaterial collection.   The biomaterials will be analyzed to determine baseline blood values and exposure to toxins and infectious agents. This basic information is lacking for most free-ranging sea turtle populations. While on the Georgia Bulldog, Drs. Deem and Norton also continued their bonnethead shark study, since sharks are often caught while trawling for turtles. A total of 18 bonnethead sharks were captured, examined, and released during the week.  All data will be used to establish much needed baseline “normal” values for this species.

Five of the loggerheads examined had evidence of trauma (i.e. shark bite wounds or boat-related injuries), and one turtle had abnormal scutes on its carapace suggestive of an infection. Similar to the loggerhead turtles sampled last year, most of the turtles evaluated this year had moderate to high numbers of barnacles on their shells and other body regions. The general health of these animals may be compromised by the heavy loads of epibiota.

Marine turtle species worldwide are facing a number of poorly understood health threats, including fibropapilloma tumors and other infectious agents. In addition, stress from human-induced changes is believed to make sea turtles more susceptible to common diseases and parasites.  The Field Veterinary Program hopes that with the health data collected over the past three years from sea turtles in Georgia and at our four other study sites throughout the Atlantic and Caribbean, we can provide some clues to the overall health of sea turtle populations.

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