ML25338A063
| ML25338A063 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Saint Lucie  |
| Issue date: | 11/06/2025 |
| From: | Munne V Florida Power & Light Co |
| To: | Koperski M - No Known Affiliation |
| References | |
| Download: ML25338A063 (0) | |
Text
Ms. Meghan Koperski FWC Imperiled Species Mgmt.
Tequesta Field Office 19100 SE Federal Highway Tequesta, Florida 33469 RE:
ST. LUCIE POWER PLANT November 6, 2025 CONDITION IX.C.1, MARINE TURTLE AUTHORIZATION
Dear Ms. Koperski,
Enclosed please find the monthly summary of marine turtle removals for the St. Lucie Power Plant for the month of October 2025. These activities were performed under FWCC Marine Turtle Permit# MTP-125 maintained by lnwater Research Group Inc., as required by Site Certification Condition IX.C.1.
The enclosure includes:
- 1) Email to Meghan Koperski Regarding Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Summary
- 2) Marine Turtle Removals
- 3) Capture Notes
- 4) Capture Summary Table If you should have any questions, please contact Aaron Garstin at (201) 301-4563.
. (________
Vince Munne Land Utilization Supervisor St. Lucie Plant
Enclosure:
Monthly Summary of Marine Turtle Removals cc: FDEP Siting Office Florida Power & Light Company 6501 S. Ocean Drive, Jensen Beach, FL 34957
Mrs. Meghan Koperski Tequesta Field Laboratory 19100 SE Federal Highway Tequesta, FL 33469
Subject:
Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Summary October 2025 lnwater Research Group, Inc.
A 501(cX3) nonprofit organization Attached, please find the monthly summary of marine turtle removals for October 2025. This month we captured 31 Chelonia mydas and three Caretta caretta in the intake canal of the St. Lucie power plant on Hutchinson Island. One sea turtle was sent for rehabilitation (non-causal), and there were no recorded mortalities this month. As with all sea turtle strandings at the St. Lucie Plant, 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.
One sea turtle was sent to rehab for non-causal injuries this month. On October 18th, a juvenile green sea turtle was captured with a healing shark bite wound on its left front flipper. This turtle was taken to Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach for rehabilitation. Because this injury was unrelated to the power plant, it w_as classified as a non-causal stranding.
The primary 5-inch barrier net encountered negligible-to-severe amounts of algae and negligible-to-moderate amounts of jellyfish 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. Underwater Engineering Services (UESI) divers inspected and cleaned the 5-inch barrier net as needed.
A scheduled maintenance outage of Unit 1 has continued since September 20th, leading to a significant reduction in flow rates within the canal system, as Circulating Water Pumps were powered down. This resulted in elevated water levels in the intake canal. Additionally, storm surge and king tides at times caused water levels to exceed the top ofthe 5-inch barrier net, prompting increased surveillance of both the barrier net and the plant's intake wells. Despite these challenges, no turtles were observed passing the barrier net during this period, indicating that the barrier net and the enhanced monitoring protocols performed effectively as designed.
lnwater Research Group Inc.
4160 NE Hyline Drive Jensen Beach, FL 34957 www.inwater.org Phone:(772)349-7252
lnwater Research Group, Inc.
A 501(cX3) nonprofit organization 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 2025. 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, o.,,Jw2 Aaron Garstin Biologist lnwater Research Group, Inc.
agarstin@inwater.org (201) 301-4563 lnwater Research Group Inc.
4160 NE Hyline Drive Jensen Beach, FL 34957 www.inwater.org Phone: {772) 349-7252
MARINE TURTLE REMOVALS ST. LUCIE PLANT INTAKE CANAL SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Date Species Note Tag #'s (cm)
(cm)
(cm)
(cm)
(cm)
(cm)
(kg)
Method 10/2/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB717/CCB718 30.9 31.8 32.9 27.8 24.4 25.8 3.8 Dip Net 10/2/2025 Chelonia mydas 1
CCB720/CCB719 106.1 107.5 114.0 108.0 82.6 87.8 182.8 South Net 10/3/2025 Chelonia mydas 2
I 55.8 56.2 59.8 52.3 43.3 43.9 21.9 North Net 10/3/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB721/CCB722 32.7 33.3 34.6 30.8 27.2 27.4 4.5 Dip Net 10/4/2025 Chelonia mydas 3
I 57.8 58.0 62.2 57.5 44.7 48.0 28.4 North Net 10/4/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB723/CCB724 47.3 47.7 50.2 44.2 38.3 39.6 15.4 South Net 10/4/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB725/CCB726 34.6 35.3 37.0 31.8 27.8 29.0 5.1 South Net 10/4/2025 Chelonia mydas 4
CCB727 /CCB728 59.3 59.7 64.5 59.5 46.4 50.4 29.6 North Net 10/8/2025 Chelonia mydas 5
CCB729/CCB730 84.4 85.0 91.1 85.6 67.5 66.9 87.5 South Net 10/8/2025 Chelonia mydas 6
CCB731/CCB732 94.6 95.1 102.1 97.1 75.7 80.8 123.3 South Net 10/8/2025 Chelonia mydas 7
CCB733/CCB734 101.9 101.9 109.5 103.7 77.8 80.8 142.0 North Net 10/8/2025 Chelonia mydas IRG0141/IRG0142 27.3 27.5 29.3 23.9 21.4 22.4 2.5 Dip Net 10/8/2025 Chelonia mydas I RG0143/I RG0144 26.5 26.9 28.4 23.0 21.4 21.6 2.2 Dip Net 10/10/2025 Chelonia mydas IRG0151/IRG0152 28.5 29.4 30.2 26.3 24.2 23.2 3.1 Dip Net 10/10/2025 Che/onia mydas IRG0153/IRG0154 26.8 27.5 28.9 25.3 22.4 22.5 2.7 South Net 10/10/2025 Chelonia mydas IRG1104/IRG1105 25.2 25.7 26.9 23.4 21.5 21.4 2.3 Dip Net 10/11/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB735/CCB736 31.9 32.7 34.4 29.3 26.3 26.4 4.0 Dip Net 10/11/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB737 /CCB738 30.9 31.3 33.0 28.3 25.6 25.8 4.1 Dip Net 10/13/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB739/CCB740 58.2 58.8 62.6 48.7 41.6 46.5 25.9 North Net 10/14/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB741/CCB742 30.4 30.8 31.8 26.0 23.7 25.5 3.2 Dip Net 10/16/2025 Chelonia mydas IRG0957/IRG0958 28.8 29.5 31.3 26.0 22.5 24.3 3.3 Dip Net 10/18/2025 Chelonia mydas 8
I 50.5 50.7 53.3 47.6 39.8 40.4 17.2 South Net 10/18/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB743/CCB744 75.6 75.8 81.3 75.0 58.9 62.4 57.5 North Net 10/20/2025 Chelonia mydas 9
CCB723/CCB724 47.4 47.5 50.3 44.5 38.2 39.3 15.0 North Net 10/23/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB747 /CCB748 32.1 32.8 34.2 30.0 26.9 27.0 4.4 Dip Net 10/23/2025 Chelonia mydas 10 CCB749/CCB750 96.0 96.5 102.5 95.5 77.4 78.0 117.8 South Net
10/28/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB753/CCB754 68.0 69.4 74.4 67.5 55.8 55.2 46.1 North Net 10/28/2025 Chelonia mydas I RG0145/I RG0146 28.5 29.0 30.4 26.5 24.3 23.6 3.0 Dip Net 10/28/2025 Chelonia mydas IRG0147 /I RG0148 28.0 28.4 30.0 26.7 24.2 23.7 2.8 Dip Net 10/28/2025 Chelonia mydas 11 KKY044/KKY045 53.7 54.0 57.0 50.1 42.1 45.1 20.6 South Net 10/30/2025 Chelonia mydas CCB755/CCB756 30.5 31.1 33.0 27.2 24.3 26.1 3.7 South Net
- 1.
Adult female green. TL= 31.1 cm. Lower inconel tag on right flipper. Hard nodule on neck. Healed wound on LRF. Small healed notches on both RFs.
- 2.
RECAPTURE, from4/27/18, 4/19/19, 6/3/19, 9/14/19, 10/8/19,.12/2/19, 1/3/20, 8/16/20, 1/23/21, 1/6/22, 12/14/22, 2/8/23, 2/19/23, 4/14/23, 6/2/23, 6/11/23, 9/24/23, 11/20/23, 1/8/24, 3/7/24, 5/2/24, 1/15/25, 4/6/25. No new inconel tags applied due to tag scars. No satellite tag present. "Dilly". Healed entanglement wound on RFF.
- 3.
RECAPTURE, from: 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, 4/22/21, 1/5/22, 3/17/22, 10/6/22, 12/22/22, 4/8/23, 6/2/23, 6/9/23, 10/28/23, 12/18/23, 6/16/24, 7/14/24, 11/14124, 1/24/25. 30% both RFs missing, healed. No new inconel tags applied due to tag scars.
- 4.
RECAPTURE, from: 2/7/23, 4/5/23, 5/3/23, 5/18/23, 6/18/23, 9/20/23, 11/29/23, 3/30/24, 9/29/24. 5%
missing from both FFs and RFs.
- 5.
Adult female green. TL= 16.3 cm. 5% missing LRF, healed.
- 6.
Adult female green. TL= 26.1 cm. 10% missing RFF, 20% missing RRF, 5% missing LRF, all healed.
Healed notch left posterior marginals.
- 7.
Adult female green. TL= 25.1 cm. Straight length measurements the same, no notch. 5% missing RFF, healed.
- 8.
PAPILLOMAS, (Balazs Tumor Sco,re = 1 {light}, Total Tumor Score= 3). REHAB(NON-CAUSAL).
STSSN# HWB20251018-004. Healing shark bite on LFF. No tags inserted due to rehab. Taken to LMC.
CMCL: 53.0 cm.
- 9.
RECAPTURE, from 10/4/25. Healed furrow on upper beak. "Craven". Satellite tag applied as a part of BiOp abundance estimate. Serial#: 25A0090 PTT: 286084. Release location: 27.34605, -80.23631.
Release time: 1835 EDT.
- 10.
Adult female green. TL= 24.9 cm. Old healed wound on RFF. 10% RRF missing, healed.
- 11.
RECAPTURE, from: 11/9/20, 4/14/23, 10/27/24. Small heaied notch on LRF. Satellite tag applied for BiOp abundance estimate "Hannibal". Serial# 25A0094 PTT ID: 286087. Release time: 1056 EDT, Release location: 27.34622, -80.23652.
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 P/astron Length
Loggerheads Green turtles Hawks bills Leather backs Kemp's ridley Olive ridley (Caretta caretta)
(Chelonia (Eretmochelys (Dermochelys (Lepidochelys (Lepidochelys Overall Totals mydas) imbricata) coriacea) kemoii) olivacea)
Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Oct-25 to Oct-25 to Oct-25 to Oct-25 to Oct-25 to Oct-25 to Oct-25 to Date Date Date Date Date Date Date Captures 3
192 31 211 0
1 0
1 0
8 0
0 34 413 Causal 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 Mortalities Non-Causal 0
0 0
2 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
2 Mortalities Causal 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 Injuries Sent to 0
10 1
6 0
0 0
0 0
1 0
0 1
17 rehab Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Fresh Oct-25 Oct-25 Oct-25 to Oct-25 to Oct-25 to Oct-25 to Oct-25 to to to Scrapes Date Date Date Date Date Date Date None 0
8 4
13 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 4
21 Minor 3
183 27 194 0
1 0
1 0
8 0
0 30 387 Moderate 0
1 0
4 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
5 Severe 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 Percent with 0.0%
0.5%
0.0%
1.9%
NA 0.0%
NA 0.0%
NA 0.0%
NA NA 0.0%
1.2%
mod/sev scrapes