ENVIRONMENT

Florida algae crisis: Sanibel clinic aids sea turtles ill from red tide

Adam Friedman
Naples Daily News

Nine months into one of Florida’s most persistent red tide blooms in recent memory, sea turtles continue to get sick and die from the toxic algae.

Since November of last year, 347 sea turtles have been reported stranded in Collier and Lee counties. The average per year from 2013 to 2017 was just 112, according to figures from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

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Of the turtle strandings, 212  have been attributed to the red tide, and almost all those turtles were found dead.

Staff at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel Island are treating sea turtles affected by red tide in August. The red tide attacks the turtle nervous system, making it weak and more susceptible to drowning or attack from a predator. The animals are treated with a combination of IV fluids, antibiotics and sometimes a blood transfusion. CROW has treated four sea turtles founded stranded in Collier County.

“In my seven years, it's never been this bad,” said Heather Barron, medical director for the Center for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife. “In last week alone, we’ve treated 12 sick sea turtles.”

The center, a veterinary hospital on Sanibel Island, and the Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota, are among the few places on the Gulf Coast of Florida treating sea turtles sickened by red tide. The center has taken in 30 sea turtles stricken with red tide, four of which came from Collier County. Collier sent a fifth sick turtle to Mote.

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The vast majority of sick sea turtles are loggerhead and Kemp’s ridley turtles because their main food source is conchs, horseshoe crabs and other shellfish that eat the red tide algae, scientists say.

Once a sea turtle ingests the red tide, the toxin gets into its nervous system, which affects its movement and, in extreme cases, puts it into a coma.

Staff at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel Island are treating sea turtles affected by red tide. The red tide attacks the turtle nervous system, making it weak and more susceptible to drowning or attack from a predator. The animals are treated with a combination of IV fluids, antibiotics and sometimes a blood transfusion. CROW has treated four sea turtles founded stranded in Collier County.

“They're so weak and depressed that they just float around on the surface,” Barron said. “Sometimes they're so weak that they can get rolled up in a wave and drown.”

The Center for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife has released 12 sea turtles back into the Gulf, is still caring for three, has transferred three of them to Mote and 12 have died at the clinic.

“We think from estimates that we're only even getting about 30 percent of dead sea turtles washed up on shore,” said Collier County sea turtle expert Maura Kraus. “Most of them sink, get caught in the Gulf Stream or are eaten by predators.”

The last persistent red tide bloom along the Gulf coast to kill this many sea turtles occurred over an 18-month stretch in 2005-06 off Sarasota County.

“Over that 18 months, the red tide killed about 400 sea turtles on the 30 miles of beach along Sarasota,” said Charlie Manire, director of research and rehabilitation at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in the Florida Keys.

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Staff at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel Island are treating sea turtles affected by red tide. The red tide attacks the turtle nervous system, making it weak and more susceptible to drowning or attack from a predator. The animals are treated with a combination of IV fluids, antibiotics and sometimes a blood transfusion. CROW has treated four sea turtles founded stranded in Collier County.

Red tide is a naturally occurring algae bloom that most scientists say is made worse by coastal pollution. Sea turtles are affected by it this time of year because their nesting season brings them closer to shore, where they wouldn’t normally be, Manire said.

In Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, Collier and Lee counties, 318 sea turtles have died from red tide this year. Turtle nesting season ends in October, but the peak of the season was in June and July.

“The one good thing is we think the baby sea turtles won’t be hurt by the red tide,” Kraus said. “Baby sea turtles can go up to a week without food once they emerge, and we think they’ll be able to swim past the red tide before they need more nutrients.”

Seabirds also are getting sick

The Center for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife  also has treated 362 seabirds in Southwest Florida due to red tide-related poisoning.

“Seabirds with the red tide can be seen stumbling and weaving almost like they are intoxicated,” Barron said. “They show no fear towards people and sometimes are just sitting on the beach dazed, letting people get close to them."

The most common seabirds affected are cormorants. The Center for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife has released 167 of the birds back into nature, and 187 of them died at the clinic.

Seabirds often will cough and have trouble blinking, just like people. They become sickened by the red tide because of the fish they eat.

“What’s odd, though, is this really seems to only be a problem in juvenile birds,” Barron said. “Some of the older birds have gotten wise to the situation and now know what fish not to eat."

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