ML093340319

Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Summary for January 2008

ML093340319
Person / Time
Site:	Saint Lucie
Issue date:	02/11/2008
From:	Bresette M Florida Power & Light Co, Quantum Resources
To:	Foster S, Hoffman B, Hollowell E, Koperski M, Logan D, Munne V, Norton S, Perkins W Florida Power & Light Co, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, US Dept of Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Admin, National Ocean Service
References
Download: ML093340319 (4)

Text

Balsam, Briana From: <Michael_Bresette@fpl.com> [Michael_Bresette@fpl.com]

Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 4:37 PM To: David_Niebch@fpl.com; Ed_Hollowell@fpl.com; Stacy_Foster@fpl.com; Vince_Munne@fpl.com; Winifred_Perkins@fpl.com; Meghan.Koperski@MyFWC.com; Bob.Hoffman@noaa.gov; Shelley.Norton@noaa.gov; Dennis Logan

Subject:

Sea turtle captures St. Lucie Plant January 2008 Attachments: Jan08rep.rtf; Notes08.xls; St. Lucie caps 2008.xls

Subject:

Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Summary January 2008

Dear Meghan,

Attached, please find the monthly summary of marine turtle removals for January 2008. In January, we captured thirty three (33) Caretta caretta and nineteen (19)

Chelonia mydas in the intake canal of the St. Lucie power plant on South Hutchinson Island. The temporary, primary barrier net is in place and effectively containing all turtles in the canal to the east of that location. In January, two loggerheads were sent to rehabilitation facilities after consultation with FWCC personnel. The compromised condition of these turtles was not causal to power plant operation. All other turtles captured in January were released back to the ocean on the same day of capture.

Tag numbers and morphmetric data for all turtles are attached. Also attached is a spreadsheet of all captures, mortalities, injuries and causal events delineated by species and month for 2008. This spreadsheet will be updated monthly and included in our monthly report to your agency. This spreadsheet also tracks fresh scrapes and will be helpful in determining the success of the intake pipe cleaning project.

One item at the bottom of the spreadsheet provides a percentage of turtles that were found with either moderate or severe scrapes that were incurred during transit through the pipe. I felt that these scrapes were the ones that should be tracked to determine the effectiveness of the pipe cleaning, because turtles will likely still incur minor scrapes during entrainment. These minor scrapes are similar to the scrapes we see on reef turtles that inhabit high energy reefs. Please let me know if you think this is an appropriate tracking method and feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Sincerely, Michael J. Bresette Sr. Environmental Specialist Quantum Resources, Inc.

1

MARINE TURTLE REMOVALS ST. LUCIE PLANT INTAKE CANAL JANUARY 2008 Date Species Note Tag #'s SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Method (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (kg) 1/2/2008 Caretta caretta YYB192/YYB193 69.0 70.1 75.7 69.0 56.0 54.7 44.6 South net 1/2/2008 Caretta caretta YYB194/YYB195 57.6 58.9 64.0 59.8 49.9 45.2 29.5 South net 1/4/2008 Chelonia mydas 1 YYB196 46.4 46.6 48.9 43.1 36.4 38.1 13.0 North net 1/4/2008 Caretta caretta YYB197/YYB198 59.9 61.0 66.8 64.1 52.5 48.8 33.2 South net 1/5/2008 Caretta caretta 2 63.7 65.5 72.2 66.1 55.4 48.8 39.0 Barrier net 1/5/2008 Caretta caretta 3 70.3 70.9 77.2 68.8 55.0 52.2 42.5 North net 1/5/2008 Chelonia mydas 27.7 28.5 29.7 26.9 23.6 22.8 2.9 North net 1/5/2008 Chelonia mydas 30.6 31.0 32.6 28.8 26.0 25.6 3.9 North net 1/5/2008 Chelonia mydas 38.6 39.0 41.0 34.9 30.5 30.1 6.3 North net 1/6/2008 Chelonia mydas 31.6 32.1 34.1 29.0 25.7 25.9 4.3 South net 1/7/2008 Chelonia mydas 29.6 30.1 31.6 27.2 24.6 24.8 2.8 Intake well 1/7/2008 Caretta caretta YYB199/YYB200 72.3 73.7 80.1 76.3 59.0 57.8 61.5 North net 1/7/2008 Caretta caretta 4 YYB201/YYB202 68.8 70.5 75.6 71.4 57.0 55.5 50.0 North net 1/8/2008 Caretta caretta YYB203/YYB204 57.2 58.4 65.8 60.0 49.4 46.4 32.8 North net 1/8/2008 Caretta caretta YYB205/YYB206 61.7 63.5 68.1 61.5 49.1 49.6 36.9 South net 1/8/2008 Caretta caretta YYB207/YYB208 60.6 61.4 68.2 64.5 52.8 47.8 36.5 South net 1/9/2008 Chelonia mydas 31.0 31.4 32.8 27.9 25.7 26.0 3.5 Dip net

Date Species Note Tag #'s SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Method (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (kg) 1/9/2008 Caretta caretta YYB209/YYB210 66.0 67.6 73.7 68.5 57.2 51.8 41.7 North net 1/10/2008 Caretta caretta YYB211/YYB212 58.5 59.4 65.6 63.0 51.3 46.9 35.5 North net 1/11/2008 Chelonia mydas 5 35.6 36.1 37.6 33.0 28.7 30.1 5.7 Dip net 1/11/2008 Chelonia mydas 28.4 29.0 29.8 26.6 24.1 23.7 3.0 Dip net 1/11/2008 Caretta caretta YYB213/YYB214 64.1 65.0 69.2 63.6 54.2 50.2 38.5 South net 1/11/2008 Caretta caretta YYB215/YYB216 66.1 67.2 72.0 69.4 56.0 52.4 43.1 South net 1/12/2008 Caretta caretta YYB217/YYB218 58.4 59.7 65.1 63.4 50.6 45.4 29.9 North net 1/14/2008 Chelonia mydas 6 60.8 61.0 65.6 57.7 45.6 52.0 29.8 South net 1/14/2008 Chelonia mydas 7 YYB110 44.5 44.6 47.1 41.3 34.2 37.4 11.9 South net 1/14/2008 Chelonia mydas 8 YYB219 48.4 48.6 51.8 43.1 37.0 40.1 12.4 South net 1/15/2008 Caretta caretta YYB220/YYB221 65.5 66.8 73.3 69.7 57.7 52.6 44.2 North net 1/16/2008 Caretta caretta YYB222/YYB223 59.2 60.6 65.2 60.4 50.4 47.5 31.4 North net 1/17/2008 Caretta caretta 9 YYB049/YYB050 63.9 64.4 70.5 63.9 49.9 47.7 34.5 North net 1/18/2008 Chelonia mydas 26.4 26.8 28.3 24.0 21.1 22.4 2.3 Barrier net 1/19/2008 Caretta caretta YYB224/YYB225 53.0 54.3 57.9 58.5 47.1 41.8 24.1 North net 1/19/2008 Caretta caretta YYB226/YYB227 66.9 67.3 72.3 68.6 56.0 53.3 45.3 South net 1/22/2008 Caretta caretta YYB228/YYB229 77.7 79.2 84.5 78.9 61.2 59.3 60.0 North net 1/23/2008 Chelonia mydas 35.6 36.2 38.1 31.5 27.1 29.1 5.2 South net 1/24/2008 Caretta caretta YYB230/YYB231 57.8 58.8 63.8 58.2 48.6 45.0 29.4 North net 1/24/2008 Caretta caretta YYB232/YYB233 75.6 77.1 82.2 77.7 64.6 61.6 70.0 North net

Date Species Note Tag #'s SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Method (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (kg) 1/24/2008 Caretta caretta YYB234/YYB235 61.4 62.3 69.2 65.3 54.3 49.8 39.8 South net 1/25/2008 Chelonia mydas 28.7 28.9 30.8 27.0 24.1 23.9 3.0 Dip net 1/25/2008 Caretta caretta 10 YYB108/YYB109 62.8 63.6 69.0 66.1 54.2 49.7 33.5 North net 1/25/2008 Chelonia mydas 11 YYB134/YYB135 69.8 69.8 74.9 68.2 55.7 56.8 45.8 South net 1/25/2008 Caretta caretta YYB236/YYB237 68.7 70.1 75.7 70.1 56.2 51.4 43.9 South net 1/26/2008 Caretta caretta YYB238/YYB239 57.9 58.9 64.7 62.3 50.6 46.4 30.4 North net 1/26/2008 Caretta caretta YYB240/YYB241 63.1 64.3 70.2 68.9 56.0 50.3 39.1 North net 1/27/2008 Caretta caretta YYB242/YYB243 64.0 65.3 71.9 68.6 54.6 47.8 38.8 North net 1/28/2008 Chelonia mydas 12 56.4 56.7 59.3 51.3 43.9 46.8 21.6 South net 1/29/2008 Caretta caretta YYB244/YYB245 61.1 61.8 66.8 62.0 51.5 47.9 33.5 North net 1/29/2008 Chelonia mydas YYB246 29.7 30.3 32.4 27.5 24.0 25.2 3.4 Barrier net 1/30/2008 Caretta caretta YYB247/YYB248 60.4 61.3 67.1 62.9 52.2 47.2 34.5 South net 1/31/2008 Caretta caretta YYB249/YYB250 66.5 67.7 72.4 73.3 59.8 53.0 49.0 North net 1/31/2008 Caretta caretta YYB251/YYB252 54.1 55.3 59.9 55.8 44.3 43.0 21.3 South net 1/31/2008 Chelonia mydas YYB253 31.0 32.2 34.2 29.4 26.0 26.4 3.8 North net

NOTES

1. Recapture. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 10/7/04, 11/3/04, 11/23/04 and 1/24/06.

2. Turtle found at surface of 5' barrier net. Slightly underweight and lethargic with heavy algae and barnacle growth.

No wounds or abnormalities. Transported to Mote Marine Aquarium by FWCC personnel. Not causal to power plant operation.

3. Turtle found with a severe wound to left front flipper. Possible prop wound injury appearing fairly recent. Transporte to Mote Marine Aquarium by FWCC personnel. Not causal to power plant operation.

4. STRANGE TAG. Whereabouts pending.

5. Recapture. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 3/13/06 and 9/8/06.

6. Recapture. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 5/23/98, 9/17/98, 3/6/99, 8/4/99, 10/28/99, 1/5/00, 2/17/00, 4/5/00, 7/7/00, 12/21/00, 4/5/01, 5/14/01, 7/3/01, 7/16/01, 1/29/02, 2/19/02, 7/28/02, 10/15/02, 11/16/02, 1/16/03, 10/6/03, 10/26/03, 3/2/04, 5/17/04, 2/4/05, 3/25/05, 4/14/05, 5/17/05, 6/7/05, 11/9/05, 7/19/06, 9/5/06, 11/8/06 and 11/24/07.

7. Recapture. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 9/23/04, 8/11/06, 8/23/06, 9/30/06, 3/6/07, 8/19/07 and 12/3/07.

8. PAPILLOMAS. Tumor score = 34. Turtle was released at Hutchinson Island the same day.

9. Recapture. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 7/6/07.

10. Recapture. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 8/18/07, 8/21/07, 8/24/07,9/2/07, 9/10/07, 10/25/07 and 12/17/07.

11. Recapture. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 2/16/98, 3/11/02, 8/11/02, 5/10/05, 6/15/05, 9/2/05, 12/12/05, 4/25/06, 8/20/06 and 9/17/07.

12. Recapture. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 2/20/98, 7/19/04, 10/16/04, 6/25/05, 7/19/05, 8/15/05, 3/15/06 and 8/14/06.

SMCL = Straight Minimum Carapace Length SMCL = Straight Standard Carapace Length CSCL = Curved Standard Carapace Length CMCW = Curved Maximum Carapace Width SMCW = Straight Maximum Carapace Width SMPL = Straight Midline Plastron Length

Loggerheads Green turtles Hawksbills Leatherbacks Kemp's ridley (Eretmochelys (Dermochelys (Lepidochelys (Caretta caretta) (Chelonia mydas) imbricata) coriacea) kempii) Overall Totals Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Jan-08 Date Jan-08 Date Jan-08 Date Jan-08 Date Jan-08 Date Jan-08 Date Captures 33 33 19 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 52 52 Causal Mortalities 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Non-causal Mortalities 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Causal Injuries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sent to rehab 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 Fresh Scrapes None 3 3 6 6 9 9 Minor 17 17 7 7 24 24 Moderate 14 14 6 6 20 20 Severe 0 0 0 0 0 0 Percent with mod/sev scrapes 42.4% 42.4% 31.6% 31.6% 38.5% 38.5%