ML14100A009

NRR E-mail Capture March 2014 FPL Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Report

ML14100A009
Person / Time
Site:	Saint Lucie
Issue date:	04/05/2014
From:	Weege S Inwater Research Group
To:	Koperski M Division of License Renewal, Tequesta Field Laboratory
References
Download: ML14100A009 (7)

Text

NRR-PMDA-ECapture Resource From: Steve Weege <steveweege@gmail.com>

Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2014 1:32 PM To: Meghan Koperski Cc: Audra Livergood - NOAA Federal; Ed Hollowell; Jodie Gless; John Jones; Ken Frehafer; Marine Turtle Permit; Michael Bresette; EndangeredSpecies Resource; SCO@dep.state.fl.us; Shelley Norton; Vince Munne; Cody Mott; Jeff Guertin; Ryan Welsh; Serge Aucoin

Subject:

March 2014 FPL Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Report Attachments: March 2014 Marine Turtle Captures.rtf; Monthly Report Notes 2014.xls; FPL St. Lucie Capture Summary 2014.xls; Power Plant Causal Turtles.xlsx Mrs. Meghan Koperski Tequesta Field Laboratory 19100 SE Federal Highway Tequesta, FL 33469

Subject:

Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Summary March 2014

Dear Meghan,

Attached, please find the monthly summary of marine turtle removals for March 2014. This month, we captured eighteen (18) Caretta caretta, five (5) Chelonia mydas, and one Eretmochelys imbricata in the intake canal of the St. Lucie power plant on Hutchinson Island. There were no mortalities and only one sea turtle was sent for rehabilitation during the month of March. As with all sea turtle strandings at the Saint Lucie Plant (alive or dead), the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) was consulted and a stranding form was filed with the state through the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network. The stranding in March was not considered causal to power plant operations.

There was one noncausal stranding at the Saint Lucie Power Plant during the month of March. An underweight and lethargic subadult loggerhead was netted and removed from the intake canal on March 2nd. This animal was heavily encrusted with epibiota and had a large healing arc-shaped notch in the right posterior carapace, as well as minor healed flipper damage. FWC was consulted to arrange for transport to a designated rehabilitation facility and the turtle was transported to SeaWorld Orlando by the FWC stranding coordinator, Morgan Young. This incident was not considered causal to power plant operations.

Throughout the month, the 5-inch barrier net experienced severe loads of algae that entered into the intake canal system, whereas jellyfish entrainment was light. A scheduled short-term power plant outage began on March 2nd. Consequently, flow rates in the canal system have abated considerably. In addition, baseline water levels in the intake canal have risen due to the reduced flow rates as some of the circulation pumps were powered down for the outage. Even still, the temporary barrier net has performed as designed and no turtles have been observed beyond the 5-inch net. Construction of a permanent 5-inch barrier net is currently underway and completion has been projected for mid-to-late 2014.

The tag numbers and morphometric data for all turtles captured during the month have been included with this report (see attachments/addendums). Also included is a spreadsheet for all captures, mortalities, injuries, and causal events delineated by species and by month for the year 2014. In addition, this spreadsheet also tracks 1

fresh scrapes incurred on captured turtles for the current month, as well as the entire year. An additional Excel spreadsheet tracks all causal injuries and mortalities incurred by sea turtles at the St. Lucie Plant since 2002.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Sincerely, Steve Steve Weege Sr. Environmental Specialist Inwater Research Group, Inc.

4160 NE Hyline Dr.

Jensen Beach, FL 34957 sweege@inwater.org (772) 349-7252 2

MARINE TURTLE REMOVALS ST. LUCIE PLANT INTAKE CANAL MARCH 2014 Date Species Note Tag #'s SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Method (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (kg) 3/2/2014 Caretta caretta 1 EEA388/EEA389 60.9 61.3 69.0 65.8 50.0 49.4 32.1 North net 3/2/2014 Caretta caretta 2 EEP566/EEP567 66.9 67.7 73.0 70.8 55.1 52.7 45.7 South net 3/3/2014 Chelonia mydas EEP578 29.4 29.7 31.3 25.7 23.3 24.5 3.1 Dip net 3/5/2014 Chelonia mydas 3 BBR499/EEP581 57.6 57.9 61.6 54.1 43.5 47.2 25.5 South net 3/5/2014 Caretta caretta EEP579/EEP580 55.6 56.7 62.4 62.0 49.6 45.6 28.2 South net 3/5/2014 Chelonia mydas 4 EEP582/EEP583 51.5 51.8 56.5 48.5 40.9 41.9 17.7 South net 3/6/2014 Chelonia mydas 989001001359000 26.3 26.5 28.0 24.1 21.9 22.4 2.5 South net 3/7/2014 Chelonia mydas 5 BBP244 38.5 38.9 42.4 37.5 31.0 32.2 8.0 South net 3/7/2014 Caretta caretta EEP584/EEP585 55.5 56.2 60.7 59.8 48.6 45.6 29.5 South net 3/9/2014 Caretta caretta 6 EEP586/EEP587 82.3 83.8 89.5 80.4 63.7 62.8 77.4 North net 3/12/2014 Caretta caretta 7 EEP564/EEP565 66.0 67.4 72.6 65.0 49.3 51.5 42.5 South net 3/13/2014 Caretta caretta EEP588/EEP589 64.6 66.1 69.8 66.5 54.3 50.1 40.1 South net 3/17/2014 Caretta caretta EEP590/EEP591 64.2 65.8 70.4 65.9 54.4 51.5 42.3 South net 3/18/2014 Caretta caretta EEP592/EEP593 60.4 60.8 65.2 63.4 49.1 45.8 33.2 South net 3/19/2014 Caretta caretta EEP594/EEP595 63.4 64.2 70.6 67.8 54.7 49.1 38.6 South net

Date Species Note Tag #'s SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Method (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (kg) 3/20/2014 Caretta caretta EEP596/EEP597 57.6 58.0 61.9 60.4 48.0 43.6 26.5 South net 3/23/2014 Caretta caretta 8 EEP598/EEP599 90.7 91.6 98.2 100.8 69.3 73.4 131.2 South net 3/24/2014 Caretta caretta EEP600/EEP601 64.9 67.1 71.0 69.1 58.4 51.0 43.4 North net 3/27/2014 Eretmochelys 9 EEP602/EEP603 70.1 72.4 77.9 71.1 55.9 54.9 46.1 South net imbricata 3/29/2014 Caretta caretta EEP604/EEP605 72.6 74.8 81.5 75.0 59.7 56.6 61.6 North net 3/29/2014 Caretta caretta EEP606/EEP607 62.5 64.0 69.6 67.5 54.3 49.7 38.7 North net 3/29/2014 Caretta caretta EEP608/EEP609 63.9 64.8 72.0 68.2 52.9 50.1 42.3 North net 3/30/2014 Caretta caretta EEP610/EEP611 62.9 63.8 69.1 68.0 52.6 49.8 37.4 South net 3/30/2014 Caretta caretta EEP612/EEP613 70.6 72.3 78.3 73.5 58.5 56.7 55.7 South net

NOTES

1. REHAB (NON-CAUSAL). Stranding #STW140302-01. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 5/9/13, 11/19/13 and 3/2/14. Turtle was underweight

& lethargic with a heavy epibiont load - "Barnacle Bill". Large healing arc-shaped notch in right posterior carapace. Turtle missing 10% of left rear flipper (healed). Transported to SeaWorld by FWC stranding coordinator.

2. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 2/24/13 and 3/2/14.

3. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 11/23/04, 6/21/06, 7/28/06, 9/1/07, 7/8/08, 9/7/08, 10/22/08, 6/15/09, 9/9/10, 11/23/11, 12/7/12, 4/14/13 and 3/5/14. Healing wounds on dorsal surface of neck and in left rear flipper (cause unknown).

4. PAPILLOMAS (Balazs Tumor Score = 2 {moderate}, Total Tumor Score = 13). Moderate fresh scrape in right anterior carapace.

5. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 10/12/11, 4/29/12, 7/7/12, 10/20/12, 2/23/13, 7/10/13, 1/21/14 and 3/7/14. PAPILLOMAS (Balazs Tumor Score = 2 {moderate}, Total Tumor Score = 21). Some tumors were regressing, including the largest tumor.

One extra vertebral costal scute.

6. Adult male. Tail length = 275 mm. Sex determination based on tail length.

7. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 2/24/14 and 3/12/14. Shark attack victim. Large arc-shaped piece missing from left anterior carapace (approximately 10% missing, healed). Arc-shaped scar in left side of plastron. Turtle also missing 80%

of right rear flipper (healed).

8. Adult female. Tail length = 250 mm. Scarring from old shark attack evident in carapace and plastron, including arc-shaped bite marks and healing cuts in rear flippers. Bulge in left anterior carapace (possibly healed damaged from shark attack).

9. Adult female. Tail length = 125 mm.

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 (Chelonia (Eretmochelys (Dermochelys (Lepidochelys (Caretta caretta) mydas) imbricata) coriacea) kempii) Overall Totals Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Mar- Date Mar- Date Mar- Date Mar- Date Mar- Date Mar- Date Captures 18 73 5 57 1 2 0 0 0 2 24 134 Causal Mortalities 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Non-causal Mortalities 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 Causal Injuries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sent to rehab 1 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 7 Fresh Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Scrapes Mar- Date Mar- Date Mar- Date Mar- Date Mar- Date Mar- Date None 2 16 0 15 1 2 0 0 0 1 3 34 Minor 16 52 4 39 0 0 0 0 0 1 20 92 Moderate 0 5 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 Severe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Percent with mod/sev scrapes 0.0% 6.8% 20.0% 5.3% 0.0% 0.0% N/A N/A N/A 0.0% 4.2% 6.0%

Injury / Mortality St Lucie Power Plant Causal Turtles 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 **2014 Totals by Species Total Captures 341 538 623 484 419 227 420 260 295 302 232 303 73 4,517 Loggerhead Injuries 0 0 0 1 *3 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 5 Mortalities 0 0 1 0 *21 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 Total Captures 292 394 286 428 267 101 299 161 444 217 127 196 57 3,269 Green Injuries 0 1 0 3 7 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 16 Mortalities 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 0 3 1 2 2 0 17 Total Captures 0 4 2 0 1 1 0 1 2 0 2 2 0 15 Leatherback Injuries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mortalities 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total Captures 0 2 1 3 3 0 2 0 7 0 0 0 2 20 Kemp's Ridley Injuries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mortalities 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total Captures 3 6 2 2 2 1 4 2 3 2 1 2 2 32 Hawksbill Injuries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mortalities 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Injury & Mortality Yearly Totals 2 2 2 5 32 1 5 3 5 1 3 3 0 64 Total Captures per Year 636 944 914 917 692 330 725 424 751 521 362 503 134 7,853

• The loggerhead causal injuries and mortalities in 2006 were all hatchlings.

• • 2014 is a partial year.