ML13063A512

NRR E-mail Capture - February 2013 FPL Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Report

ML13063A512
Person / Time
Site:	Saint Lucie
Issue date:	03/01/2013
From:	Weege S - No Known Affiliation
To:	Koperski M Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML13063A512 (9)

Text

NRR-PMDAPEm Resource From: Stephen Weege [steveweege@yahoo.com]

Sent: Friday, March 01, 2013 8:21 AM To: Meghan Koperski Cc: Mike Bresette; Dave Clark; EndangeredSpecies Resource; Ken Frehafer; Jodie Gless; Ed Hollowell; MTP@MyFWC.com; Vince Munne; Dave Niebch; Shelley Norton; SCO@dep.state.fl.us

Subject:

February 2013 FPL Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Report Attachments: February 2013 Marine Turtle Captures.rtf; Monthly Report Notes 2013.pdf; FPL St Lucie Capture Summary 2013.pdf; Power Plant Causal Turtles.pdf Mrs. Meghan Koperski Tequesta Field Laboratory 19100 SE Federal Highway Tequesta , FL 33469

Subject:

Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Summary February 2013

Dear Meghan,

Attached, please find the monthly summary of marine turtle removals for February 2013. This month, we captured eight (8) Caretta caretta and eight (8) Chelonia mydas in the intake canal of the St. Lucie power plant on Hutchinson Island. There was one sea turtle sent for rehabilitation in the month of February; there were no mortalities. Moving forward, a new Excel spreadsheet has been added to the monthly report that tracks all causal injuries and mortalities incurred by sea turtles at the Saint Lucie Plant since 2001.

On February 23rd, a juvenile green turtle was hand captured near the base of the temporary 5-inch barrier net by Inwater Research Group biologists. This turtle had entanglement-related injuries with fishing line wrapped around its head and front flippers. After consultation with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, this incident was considered to be not causal to power plant operations. A volunteer from the Marinelife Center picked up the animal and transported it to their facility in Juno Beach for rehabilitation.

Throughout the month, the 5-inch barrier net experienced light loads of algae that entered into the intake canal system and jellyfish entrainment was negligible. Overall, the temporary barrier net has performed as designed and no turtles have been observed beyond the 5-inch net. To date, Florida Power & Light continues to work towards the installation of a permanent 5-inch barrier net.

The tag numbers and morphometric data for all turtles captured during the month have been included (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 2013. In addition, this spreadsheet also 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, 1

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

Hearing Identifier: NRR_PMDA Email Number: 620 Mail Envelope Properties (1362144032.8081.YahooMailNeo)

Subject:

February 2013 FPL Marine Turtle Removal Monthly Report Sent Date: 3/1/2013 8:20:32 AM Received Date: 3/1/2013 8:20:48 AM From: Stephen Weege Created By: steveweege@yahoo.com Recipients:

"Mike Bresette" <mbresette@inwater.org>

Tracking Status: None "Dave Clark" <dclark@inwater.org>

Tracking Status: None "EndangeredSpecies Resource" <EndangeredSpecies.Resource@nrc.gov>

Tracking Status: None "Ken Frehafer" <Ken_Frehafer@FPL.com>

Tracking Status: None "Jodie Gless" <Jodie_Gless@FPL.com>

Tracking Status: None "Ed Hollowell" <Ed_Hollowell@FPL.com>

Tracking Status: None "MTP@MyFWC.com" <MTP@MyFWC.com>

Tracking Status: None "Vince Munne" <vince.munne@fpl.com>

Tracking Status: None "Dave Niebch" <david_niebch@fpl.com>

Tracking Status: None "Shelley Norton" <Shelley.Norton@NOAA.gov>

Tracking Status: None "SCO@dep.state.fl.us" <SCO@dep.state.fl.us>

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

Tracking Status: None Post Office: web122601.mail.ne1.yahoo.com Files Size Date & Time MESSAGE 2332 3/1/2013 8:20:48 AM February 2013 Marine Turtle Captures.rtf 72747 Monthly Report Notes 2013.pdf 60909 FPL St Lucie Capture Summary 2013.pdf 110002 Power Plant Causal Turtles.pdf 118740 Options Priority: Standard Return Notification: No Reply Requested: No Sensitivity: Normal Expiration Date:

Recipients Received:

MARINE TURTLE REMOVALS ST. LUCIE PLANT INTAKE CANAL FEBRUARY 2013 Date Species Note Tag #'s SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Method (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (kg) 2/1/2013 Caretta caretta EEA206/EEA207 67.8 69.8 74.5 71.1 58.4 52.6 49.9 South net 2/3/2013 Chelonia mydas 1 982000167792670 28.5 28.8 31.3 25.3 22.7 23.8 3.0 North net 2/5/2013 Chelonia mydas EEA208/EEA209 34.2 34.6 36.7 31.5 28.1 28.2 5.5 Hand capture 2/5/2013 Chelonia mydas 2 EEA211/EEA212 47.7 47.9 51.5 47.1 38.7 39.6 15.8 Hand capture 2/5/2013 Chelonia mydas EEA213/EEA214 53.0 53.3 56.5 50.2 43.6 45.6 20.4 Hand capture 2/6/2013 Caretta caretta EEA215/EEA216 65.5 66.3 70.8 61.5 52.7 48.8 33.4 Hand capture 2/8/2013 Caretta caretta EEA217/EEA218 61.9 64.0 68.4 63.6 51.3 50.8 37.3 Hand capture 2/11/2013 Caretta caretta EEA219/EEA220 60.5 60.8 66.4 63.0 53.8 48.9 37.9 South net 2/17/2013 Caretta caretta 3 EEA221/EEA222 87.0 88.6 96.2 83.7 61.5 68.1 93.6 North net 2/17/2013 Chelonia mydas 4 EEA223/EEA224 53.3 53.5 58.1 50.6 41.0 43.5 20.8 South net 2/20/2013 Caretta caretta 5 EEA225/EEA226 108.7 109.0 117.4 104.2 80.9 76.5 174.9 South net 2/23/2013 Chelonia mydas 6 BBP244/BBP245 37.3 37.4 40.6 35.7 30.3 31.0 7.5 Hand capture 2/23/2013 Caretta caretta EEA227 57.7 59.1 63.4 57.0 48.3 46.6 26.5 Hand capture 2/24/2013 Chelonia mydas 982000167799895 27.1 27.6 30.4 24.1 22.0 22.8 2.7 North net 2/27/2013 Caretta caretta EEA228/EEA229 56.0 57.2 61.9 57.2 48.5 45.7 27.0 Dip net

Date Species Note Tag #'s SMCL SSCL CSCL CMCW SMCW SMPL Weight Method (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (kg) 2/28/2013 Chelonia mydas EEA230/EEA231 39.3 39.6 42.3 36.3 31.8 33.4 6.9 North net

NOTES

1. PAPILLOMAS (Tumor Score=24). Turtle is very active. Minor healed flipper damage present.

2. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 8/5/08, 5/10/11, 6/13/11, 7/25/11, 7/7/12 and 2/5/13. New inconel tags inserted on this capture event.

3. Adult female. Tail length = 220 mm.

4. RECAPTURE. Turtle was removed from the intake canal, tagged and released at Hutchinson Island on 12/16/05, 7/15/06, 8/21/06, 10/10/07, 1/11/10, 10/20/11 and 2/17/13. New inconel tags inserted today.

5. Adult male. Tail length = 505 mm.

6. REHAB (NON-CAUSAL). 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. Stranding# CRM130223-01. This turtle was hand captured on 2/23/13 by IRG biologists near the base of the temporary 5-inch barrier net. Animal had fishing line wrapped around head and front flippers. Picked up by Marinelife Center volunteer for transport to rehab in Juno Beach.

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 (Caretta caretta) (Chelonia (Eretmochelys (Dermochelys (Lepidochelys Overall Totals Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Feb-13 Date Feb-13 Date Feb-13 Date Feb-13 Date Feb-13 Date Feb-13 Date Captures 8 26 8 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 51 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 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Fresh Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Year to Scrapes Feb-13 Date Feb-13 Date Feb-13 Date Feb-13 Date Feb-13 Date Feb-13 Date None 2 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 Minor 6 24 8 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 43 Moderate 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Severe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Percent with mod/sev scrapes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 12.0% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 0.0% 5.9%

Injury / Mortality Totals St Lucie Power Plant Causal Turtles 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 *2013 by Species Total Captures 270 341 538 623 484 419 227 420 260 295 302 232 26 4,437 Loggerhead Injuries 0 0 0 0 1 **3 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 7 Mortalities 1 0 0 1 0 **21 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 24 Total Captures 321 292 394 286 428 267 101 299 161 444 217 127 25 3,362 Green Injuries 0 0 1 0 3 7 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 16 Mortalities 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 0 3 1 2 0 19 Total Captures 2 0 4 2 0 1 1 0 1 2 0 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 1 0 2 1 3 3 0 2 0 7 0 0 0 19 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 6 3 6 2 2 2 1 4 2 3 2 1 0 34 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 5 2 2 2 5 32 1 5 3 5 1 3 0 66 Total Captures per Year 600 636 944 914 917 692 330 725 424 751 521 362 51 7,867

• 2013 is a partial year (last updated 2/28/13 at 3:18PM EST).

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