ML22165A299

NRR E-mail Capture - (External_Sender) May 2022 FPL Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Report

ML22165A299
Person / Time
Site:	Saint Lucie
Issue date:	06/14/2022
From:	Weege S Inwater Research Group
To:	Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML22165A299 (10)

Text

From: Steve Weege <sweege@inwater.org>

Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2022 7:03 AM To: Koperski, Meghan Cc: Eldridge, Jodie; Marine Turtle Permits; Michael Bresette; EndangeredSpecies Resource; SCO@dep.state.fl.us; Vince Munne; Eaton, Kristin; William Nurnberger; Audra Livergood - NOAA Federal; Sciscente, Richard; Seth.Duston@fpl.com; Cody Mott; Jguertin

Subject:

[External_Sender] May 2022 FPL Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Report Attachments: May 2022 Marine Tutle Captures.pdf; FPL St. Lucie Capture Summary 2022.pdf; Monthly Report Notes 2022.pdf Mrs. Meghan Koperski Tequesta Field Laboratory 19100 SE Federal Highway Tequesta, FL 33469

Subject:

Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Summary May 2022

Dear Meghan,

Attached, please find the monthly summary of marine turtle removals for May 2022. This month we captured 39 Caretta caretta and three Chelonia mydas in the intake canal of the St. Lucie power plant on Hutchinson Island. Two sea turtles were sent for rehabilitation (both non-causal) and there were no mortalities in May. As with all sea turtle strandings at the St. 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 sea turtles were sent to rehab for non-causal injuries this month. On May 14th, a juvenile loggerhead was dip-netted with heavy monofilament line tangled around the base of one of its front flippers. This turtle was taken to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton for rehabilitation. On May 22nd, an adult female loggerhead was captured in the tangle nets with an open wound from a shark attack. The left front flipper was missing and the head of the humerus was projecting outward from the healing terminus. The humeral bone was covered in shark teeth marks. There was also an old boat strike injury to the posterior carapace consisting of two completely healed 20 cm gashes. Loggerhead Marinelife Center biologists picked up and transported this turtle to Zoo Miami for rehabilitation.

Because these injuries/illnesses were unrelated to the power plant, both were classified as non-causal strandings.

The primary 5-inch barrier net encountered severe amounts of algae this past month. IRG 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. Furthermore, Underwater Engineering Services (UESI) divers inspected and cleaned the 5-inch barrier net as needed.

Altogether, the primary 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 2022. 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: 1671 Mail Envelope Properties (CAOA4+RJzX-3w0eGiJZEVXxXGkcq_Dn4DznhT-W9fpLLVFAHwrw)

Subject:

[External_Sender] May 2022 FPL Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Report Sent Date: 6/14/2022 7:02:58 AM Received Date: 6/14/2022 7:03:29 AM From: Steve Weege Created By: sweege@inwater.org Recipients:

"Eldridge, Jodie" <Jodie.Eldridge@nexteraenergy.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 "Eaton, Kristin" <Kristin.Eaton@fpl.com>

Tracking Status: None "William Nurnberger" <William.Nurnberger@fpl.com>

Tracking Status: None "Audra Livergood - NOAA Federal" <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 "Cody Mott" <cmott@inwater.org>

Tracking Status: None "Jguertin" <jguertin@inwater.org>

Tracking Status: None "Koperski, Meghan" <Meghan.Koperski@myfwc.com>

Tracking Status: None Post Office: mail.gmail.com Files Size Date & Time MESSAGE 2868 6/14/2022 7:03:29 AM May 2022 Marine Tutle Captures.pdf 262530 FPL St. Lucie Capture Summary 2022.pdf 253080 Monthly Report Notes 2022.pdf 191594 Options Priority: Normal Return Notification: No Reply Requested: No

Sensitivity: Normal Expiration Date:

MARINE TURTLE REMOVALS ST. LUCIE PLANT INTAKE CANAL MAY 2022 Date Species Note Tag #'s SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Method (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (kg) 5/3/2022 Caretta caretta FFE605/FFE606 68.6 69.4 71.4 71.1 57.9 55.0 46.1 North net 5/6/2022 Caretta caretta FFE607/FFE608 84.6 84.9 88.9 78.8 61.8 62.8 85.5 Hand capture 5/6/2022 Caretta caretta 1 FFE609/FFE610 94.7 97.8 102.9 92.4 73.1 71.9 130.4 Hand capture 5/8/2022 Caretta caretta 2 FFE611/FFE612 93.9 94.7 99.2 87.4 67.8 69.0 113.0 North net 5/9/2022 Caretta caretta FFE613/FFE614 74.2 74.8 76.9 72.5 58.8 56.2 54.2 North net 5/13/2022 Caretta caretta FFE615/FFE616 48.1 49.3 52.5 49.6 42.6 38.9 17.8 North net 5/14/2022 Caretta caretta FFE617/FFE618 57.4 58.8 60.5 58.1 49.5 44.0 26.0 North net 5/14/2022 Caretta caretta 3 FFE619/FFE620 91.2 91.7 94.9 86.1 69.5 70.0 120.3 North net 5/14/2022 Caretta caretta 4 FFE621/FFE622 86.5 87.3 91.7 83.7 64.6 66.9 98.9 North net 5/14/2022 Caretta caretta 5 SRH220514-001 56.6 58.8 62.1 61.1 50.3 46.6 32.9 Dip net 5/15/2022 Caretta caretta 6 FFE623/FFE626 95.4 96.6 99.6 83.8 67.1 66.1 103.8 South net 5/16/2022 Caretta caretta 7 FFE627/FFE628 103.7 105.1 109.0 96.9 76.6 81.8 171.8 North net 5/18/2022 Caretta caretta 8 FFE629/FFE630 92.8 94.2 96.3 88.0 68.6 65.9 107.5 South net 5/18/2022 Caretta caretta 9 FFE632/FFE631 90.5 91.3 94.8 86.4 73.5 65.3 110.7 North net 5/19/2022 Caretta caretta 10 FFE633/FFE634 93.8 94.8 97.3 87.2 71.3 71.6 123.0 North net 5/20/2022 Chelonia mydas FFE635/FFE636 42.5 43.0 44.5 38.1 34.0 35.3 10.4 South net 5/20/2022 Caretta caretta FFE637/FFE638 82.9 83.6 85.1 75.9 62.1 63.0 80.3 North net

Date Species Note Tag #'s SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Method (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (kg) 5/22/2022 Caretta caretta 11 FFE639/FFE640 94.9 95.7 96.8 89.3 71.4 74.6 128.4 Hand capture 5/22/2022 Caretta caretta 12 FFE641 91.9 93.4 96.3 87.7 67.8 65.3 103.3 Hand capture 5/22/2022 Caretta caretta 13 FFE642/FFE643 96.5 98.2 102.3 91.8 75.8 76.3 134.8 Hand capture 5/22/2022 Caretta caretta 14 FFE644/FFE645 87.6 88.0 92.0 80.7 64.5 67.0 90.4 Hand capture 5/22/2022 Caretta caretta FFE646/FFE647 66.3 68.0 69.9 68.1 57.8 52.5 41.4 Hand capture 5/22/2022 Chelonia mydas FFE648/FFE649 45.2 45.7 47.2 40.4 35.3 37.3 12.3 Hand capture 5/22/2022 Caretta caretta 15 STW220522-001 98.5 103.6 107.0 99.7 78.0 81.0 176.4 North net 5/23/2022 Chelonia mydas 16 982000410603762 58.7 59.0 62.5 55.6 46.9 46.3 242.0 Hand capture 5/23/2022 Caretta caretta 17 FFE439/FFE440 68.1 69.7 71.3 65.7 55.9 52.1 45.0 Hand capture 5/23/2022 Caretta caretta 18 FFE650/FFE651 83.2 85.2 87.0 85.5 70.8 68.3 108.9 Hand capture 5/23/2022 Caretta caretta 19 FFE652/FFE653 86.6 89.2 91.3 85.1 69.0 70.4 105.4 North net 5/23/2022 Caretta caretta FFE654/FFE655 65.8 66.9 70.6 68.3 54.0 51.5 41.3 Hand capture 5/23/2022 Caretta caretta 20 FFE656/FFE657 93.7 94.3 96.1 86.9 66.9 67.7 112.1 Hand capture 5/23/2022 Caretta caretta FFE658/FFE659 80.9 81.3 87.1 79.4 59.5 61.2 74.3 Hand capture 5/26/2022 Caretta caretta 21 FFE660/FFE661 88.8 90.1 96.3 83.6 67.5 69.6 107.8 North net 5/26/2022 Caretta caretta 22 KKY366/FFE662 82.3 84.3 86.1 76.5 62.7 59.4 78.6 North net 5/27/2022 Caretta caretta 23 FFE663/FFE664 84.6 86.0 91.4 81.2 66.9 64.5 99.3 North net 5/27/2022 Caretta caretta 24 FFE665/FFE666 91.6 93.7 97.8 86.5 70.3 71.6 127.2 Hand capture 5/27/2022 Caretta caretta 25 FFE667/FFE668 91.6 93.1 94.6 82.9 66.3 64.7 90.5 Hand capture 5/27/2022 Caretta caretta FFE669/FFE670 80.5 81.2 82.5 79.9 60.9 62.0 79.0 Hand capture

Date Species Note Tag #'s SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Method (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (kg) 5/27/2022 Caretta caretta FFE671/FFE672 74.5 74.7 77.7 73.0 57.3 58.2 58.1 Hand capture 5/27/2022 Caretta caretta FFE673/FFE674 80.3 81.1 84.8 78.5 68.1 62.1 83.0 Hand capture 5/31/2022 Caretta caretta 26 FFE675/FFE676 86.7 89.4 93.3 82.5 66.7 67.9 100.8 Hand capture 5/31/2022 Caretta caretta FFE677/FFE678 64.6 65.7 70.7 69.5 57.0 51.2 36.1 Hand capture 5/31/2022 Caretta caretta 27 FFE679/FFE680 85.5 86.5 89.7 83.0 65.1 65.0 90.2 North net

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 May-22 Date May-22 Date May-22 Date May-22 Date May-22 Date May-22 Date Captures 39 69 3 39 0 0 0 1 0 1 42 110 Causal Mortalities 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 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 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 Fresh Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Scrapes May-22 Date May-22 Date May-22 Date May-22 Date May-22 Date May-22 Date None 3 10 1 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 16 Minor 33 54 2 33 0 0 0 0 0 1 35 88 Moderate 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 6 Severe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Percent with mod/sev scrapes 7.7% 7.2% 0.0% 0.0% N/A N/A N/A 100.0% N/A 0.0% 7.1% 5.5%

NOTES

1. Adult male loggerhead. Tail length = 435 mm.

2. Adult male loggerhead. Tail length = 465 mm. Healing hooking wound in left side of jaw. Two healed gashes in right side of carapace (15cm and 17cm).

3. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 240 mm.

4. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 201 mm.

5. REHAB (NON-CAUSAL). Stranding# SRH220514-001. Juvenile loggerhead dip-netted with heavy monofilament line tangled around base of right front flipper. Turtle also missing 8 cm x 10 cm piece of right posterior carapace (healed, includes part of last vertebral and costal scutes). Turtle was taken to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton for rehabilitation.

6. Adult male loggerhead. Tail length = 490 mm.

7. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 6/28/05 and 5/16/22. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 275 mm. New Inconel tags inserted on this capture event.

8. Adult male loggerhead. Tail length = 415 mm.

9. Adult male loggerhead. Tail length = 465 mm.

10. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 265 mm. Turtle missing 50% of its right front flipper (healed).

Scar tissue in left axilla and left front flipper (probable mating wounds).

11. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 240 mm. Mating scar in ventral side of neck.

12. Adult male loggerhead. Tail length = 470 mm. Granulated tissue in front flippers, possible mating wounds/

bites. Only one Inconel tag inserted in LFF due to flipper damage. Healed broken bone in left shoulder.

13. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 245 mm. Turtle missing 50% of left front flipper and 25% of right front flipper. Broken bone in proximal RFF just distal to the humeral articulation (scar tissue over wound).

14. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 203 mm. Mating scars in ventral side of neck. Moderate fresh scrape in nares.

15. REHAB (NON-CAUSAL). Stranding# STW220522-001. Adult female loggerhead captured in the tangle nets with an open wound from a shark attack (tail length = 226 mm). Left front flipper missing with entire humerus projecting outward from the healing terminus. The humeral bone is covered in shark teeth marks. The tissue is granulated and not bleeding, but the skin has not yet covered the wound. There is an old boat strike injury to the posterior carapace consisting of two completely healed 20 cm gashes.

Loggerhead Marinelife Center biologists picked up & transported this turtle to Zoo Miami for rehabilitation.

16. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 12/6/18, 3/20/19, 12/2/19, 10/11/20, and 5/23/22. PAPILLOMAS (Balazs Tumor Score = 2 {moderate},

Total Tumor Score = 7). Papilloma tumors in old tag sites. No new Inconel tags inserted.

17. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 10/19/21 and 5/23/22. PAPILLOMAS (Balazs Tumor Score = 1 {light}, Total Tumor Score = 3).

18. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 230 mm. Scar tissue in right shoulder.

19. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 280 mm. Large healed notch in distal trailing edge of right front flipper (5% missing, healed). Broken phalange proximal to flipper damage.

20. Adult male loggerhead. Tail length = 528 mm.

21. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 225 mm.

22. STRANGE TAG (Originally tagged in Johnson Keys near Big Pine Key, The Florida Keys by Inwater Research Group on 7/18/21). Adult male loggerhead. Tail length = 451 mm. Sex determination based on tail length. One new Inconel tag #FFE662 applied on this capture event.

23. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 197 mm. Healing mating wounds on left side of head and jaw.

24. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 220 mm. Healed longitudinal 44 cm crack through vertebral scutes in anterior carapace (probable old boat strike injury). Mating scar in ventral side of neck.

25. Adult male loggerhead. Tail length = 437 mm.

26. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 198 mm. Shark rakings in anterior plastron and marginals. Turtle missing 20% from terminal end of right rear flipper (healed).

27. Adult female loggerhead. Tail length = 205 mm. Crack in first vertebral scute from an old boat strike injury.

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