ML21131A216
| ML21131A216 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Saint Lucie  |
| Issue date: | 05/11/2021 |
| From: | Weege S Inwater Research Group |
| To: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| Download: ML21131A216 (7) | |
Text
From: Steve Weege <sweege@inwater.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2021 3:55 PM To: Koperski, Meghan Cc: Ed Hollowell; Jodie_Gless@fpl.com; Ken_Frehafer@fpl.com; Marine Turtle Permits; Michael Bresette; EndangeredSpecies Resource; SCO@dep.state.fl.us; Vince Munne; Cody Mott; Jeff Guertin; Ryan Welsh; Eaton, Kristin; Jonathon Gorham; William.Nurnberger@fpl.com; audra.livergood@noaa.gov; Sciscente, Richard; Seth.Duston@fpl.com
Subject:
[External_Sender] April 2021 FPL Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Report Attachments: April 2021 Marine Turtle Captures.pdf; Monthly Report Notes 2021.pdf; FPL St. Lucie Capture Summary 2021.pdf Mrs. Meghan Koperski Tequesta Field Laboratory 19100 SE Federal Highway Tequesta, FL 33469
Subject:
Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Summary April 2021
Dear Meghan,
Attached, please find the monthly summary of marine turtle removals for April 2021. This month we captured nine Caretta caretta and two Chelonia mydas in the intake canal of the St. Lucie power plant on Hutchinson Island. Two sea turtles were sent for rehabilitation and there was one mortality during the month of April. As with all sea turtle strandings at the Saint Lucie Plant, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) was consulted and stranding forms were filed with the state through the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network.
Two loggerheads were sent to rehab facilities for non-causal injuries or illnesses this month. On April 4th, an emaciated subadult loggerhead with heavy epibiont coverage was captured in the tangle nets.
Inwater Research Group (IRG) biologists transported this turtle partway to rehab at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton. On April 25th, another subadult loggerhead was captured in the tangle nets with extensive boat strike injuries. There was a large crack across its entire posterior carapace which was healing yet still severe. IRG biologists transported this turtle to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach for rehab. Because these turtles had injuries or illnesses that were unrelated to the power plant, they were classified as non-causal.
There was one non-causal mortality this month. On April 24th, a fresh dead subadult loggerhead was found floating atop the 5-inch barrier net. The turtle was emaciated and appeared to have succumbed to debilitated turtle syndrome. There were also multiple lesions on the neck and front flippers. The animal was held on ice and taken to Dr. Nancy Mettee, DVM for necropsy and final causality determination. The turtle had a severe bacterial infection and acute hepatitis. This animal was likely moribund when it was entrained (in light of the progression of its illness and significant weight loss) and therefore deemed non-causal.
The primary 5-inch barrier net encountered moderate-to-severe amounts of algae throughout the month. However, the impact of the algae intrusion was attenuated by the planned short-term power plant outage that began on April 12th. This is because outages result in decreased flow rates in the canal
system and therefore less stress on the barrier nets. Even still, IRG biologists performed around-the-clock monitoring of the intake canal and barrier net system either as warranted by sufficiently high debris intrusion levels or whenever directed by FPL oversight personnel. In addition, Underwater Engineering Services Inc. divers inspected and cleaned the primary barrier of all debris towards the end of the month. Altogether, the barrier net has performed as designed and no turtles have been observed beyond the 5-inch net.
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 2021. In addition, this spreadsheet tracks fresh scrapes incurred on captured turtles for the current month, as well as the entire year.
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
Hearing Identifier: NRR_DRMA Email Number: 1182 Mail Envelope Properties (CAOA4+RJCCo==rt4a42F+z=zQ5ch+p=Qujm0yAEd74jx3D8hN7Q)
Subject:
[External_Sender] April 2021 FPL Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Report Sent Date: 5/11/2021 3:55:15 PM Received Date: 5/11/2021 3:55:39 PM From: Steve Weege Created By: sweege@inwater.org Recipients:
"Ed Hollowell" <Ed.Hollowell@fpl.com>
Tracking Status: None "Jodie_Gless@fpl.com" <Jodie_Gless@fpl.com>
Tracking Status: None "Ken_Frehafer@fpl.com" <Ken_Frehafer@fpl.com>
Tracking Status: None "Marine Turtle Permits" <MTP@myfwc.com>
Tracking Status: None "Michael Bresette" <mbresette@inwater.org>
Tracking Status: None "EndangeredSpecies Resource" <EndangeredSpecies.Resource@nrc.gov>
Tracking Status: None "SCO@dep.state.fl.us" <SCO@dep.state.fl.us>
Tracking Status: None "Vince Munne" <Vince.Munne@fpl.com>
Tracking Status: None "Cody Mott" <cmott@inwater.org>
Tracking Status: None "Jeff Guertin" <jguertin@gmail.com>
Tracking Status: None "Ryan Welsh" <rwelsh@inwater.org>
Tracking Status: None "Eaton, Kristin" <Kristin.Eaton@fpl.com>
Tracking Status: None "Jonathon Gorham" <jgorham@inwater.org>
Tracking Status: None "William.Nurnberger@fpl.com" <William.Nurnberger@fpl.com>
Tracking Status: None "audra.livergood@noaa.gov" <audra.livergood@noaa.gov>
Tracking Status: None "Sciscente, Richard" <Richard.Sciscente@fpl.com>
Tracking Status: None "Seth.Duston@fpl.com" <Seth.Duston@fpl.com>
Tracking Status: None "Koperski, Meghan" <Meghan.Koperski@myfwc.com>
Tracking Status: None Post Office: mail.gmail.com Files Size Date & Time MESSAGE 3650 5/11/2021 3:55:39 PM
April 2021 Marine Turtle Captures.pdf 255431 Monthly Report Notes 2021.pdf 184999 FPL St. Lucie Capture Summary 2021.pdf 252267 Options Priority: Normal Return Notification: No Reply Requested: No Sensitivity: Normal Expiration Date:
MARINE TURTLE REMOVALS ST. LUCIE PLANT INTAKE CANAL APRIL 2021 Date Species Note Tag #'s SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Method (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (kg) 4/4/2021 Caretta caretta 1 KKY222/KKY223 87.5 89.8 93.5 87.7 68.4 68.7 103.9 Hand capture 4/4/2021 Caretta caretta 2 WEC210404-002 66.3 67.9 70.7 70.5 57.9 52.9 32.1 North net 4/5/2021 Chelonia mydas 3 KKY224/KKY225 49.9 50.0 52.4 43.9 36.9 38.6 16.0 South net 4/6/2021 Caretta caretta KKY226/KKY227 71.6 72.6 77.6 74.2 60.0 56.0 53.8 South net 4/7/2021 Caretta caretta KKY228/KKY229 58.5 60.4 64.7 58.7 49.1 46.2 29.3 North net 4/9/2021 Caretta caretta KKY230/KKY231 67.9 68.5 71.5 69.7 56.9 54.9 49.7 South net 4/15/2021 Caretta caretta 4 KKY232/KKY233 95.4 97.7 102.1 91.2 71.6 70.0 114.4 North net 4/22/2021 Caretta caretta 5 KKY234/KKY235 99.8 100.1 103.5 94.5 74.9 72.9 133.5 South net 4/22/2021 Chelonia mydas 6 MMY347/KKG101 50.7 50.7 52.8 48.1 39.9 42.1 16.6 South net 4/24/2021 Caretta caretta 7 AMM210424-001 62.2 63.7 67.0 66.5 53.5 49.3 31.8 Barrier net 4/25/2021 Caretta caretta 8 SAC210425-001 68.6 70.4 76.9 72.5 54.1 54.6 54.8 South net
NOTES
- 1. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 235 mm.
- 2. REHAB (NON-CAUSAL). Stranding# WEC210404-002. Emaciated subadult loggerhead captured in the tangle nets. Heavy epibiont coverage. Inwater Research Group biologists (IRG) transported partway to rehab at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Boca Raton.
- 3. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 1/10/18, 3/14/18, 9/5/19, 12/15/20, and 4/5/21.
- 4. Adult male loggerhead. Tail length = 365 mm. Old hooking wound in right side of jaw. Healed injury to posterior carapace (consistent with an old boat strike injury).
- 5. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 285 mm. STRANGE TAG (PIT Tag), originally tagged by researchers from the University of Central Florida while nesting on 6/15/15. Two new Inconel tags inserted on this capture event.
- 6. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 7/19/18, 12/10/18, 3/31/19, 12/9/19, 1/7/20, 2/15/20, 5/5/20, 8/11/20, 10/25/20, 1/13/21, and 4/22/21.
- 7. DEAD (NON-CAUSAL MORTALITY). Stranding #AMM210424-001. Fresh dead emaciated subadult loggerhead found floating atop 5-inch barrier net. Turtle appears to have succumbed to debilitated turtle syndrome. Multiple 1cm lesions in neck and front flippers. Turtle was held on ice and taken to Dr. Nancy Mettee, DVM for necropsy and final causality determination.
- 8. REHAB (NON-CAUSAL). Stranding# SAC210425-001. RECAPTURE, from 3/9/15. Subadult loggerhead captured in the tangle nets with extensive boat strike injuries. Large crack across entire posterior carapace. Wound was old/healing but enters into the body cavity so the turtle may have buoyancy issues. IRG biologists transported turtle to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach for rehab.
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 Apr-21 Date Apr-21 Date Apr-21 Date Apr-21 Date Apr-21 Date Apr-21 Date Captures 9 59 2 29 0 1 0 0 0 3 11 92 Causal Mortalities 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Non-causal Mortalities 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Causal Injuries 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Sent to rehab 2 11 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 13 Fresh Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Scrapes Apr- Date Apr- Date Apr- Date Apr- Date Apr- Date Apr- Date None 4 10 1 6 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 18 Minor 4 47 1 23 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 72 Moderate 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 Severe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Percent with mod/sev scrapes 11.1% 3.4% 0.0% 0.0% N/A 0.0% N/A N/A N/A 0.0% 9.1% 2.2%