they do there — evokes what is a common answer 

 to many questions about sea turtle migration. 



"We don't know," McClellan says. "They're 

 called the lost years. Nobody knows for sure 

 where they go or how far they go." 



No one knows why so many turtles interact 

 with flounder gill nets, but McClellan hopes to 

 find out. 



'It is likely that temperature is causing both 

 turtles and flounder to be migrating that time of 

 year. It could be they're both migrating out of the 

 estuary." 



"They may just go offshore, south, or to the 

 Gulf Stream" McClellan explains. "There is 

 evidence that an individual will come back to the 

 same area each year." 



Understanding turtle migration is key to 

 making regulations that are more specific and 

 protect both turtles and fisheries. 



But why spend so much energy protecting 

 sea turtles when, in an economically depressed 

 part of the state, people's livelihoods can be at 

 stake? 



There are issues of biodiversity and 

 "ecosystem function," McClellan notes. 



"We don't know enough about how (sea 

 turtles) are using the habitat and what it would 

 look like without them," she adds. 



"Certainly everyone has different opinions, 

 and so we resort to thinking about 'viable 

 population sizes,' " McClellan says. 



Ultimately, the problem of accidental takes 

 of sea turtles in fisheries might be too complex for 

 numerical equations. 



"Accidents happen, and, when turtles and 

 fishers use the same area for different purposes, 

 there are bound to be interactions," McClellan 

 adds. "But we need to be responsible in 



understanding and controlling these interactions, 

 and that's what I think this project and the efforts 

 of NMFS and DMF, the Wildlife Resources 

 Commission and, indeed, some of the 

 fishermen are trying to do." □ 



PHOTOS, LEFT TO RIGHT: 



• The satellite transmitter as it would be affixed to a 

 healthy sea turtle. The antenna is flexible, and signals 

 are transmitted when the turtle surfaces for air. This 

 turtle, later dubbed "Catherine," is destined for the 

 turt/e hospital. 



• Catherine McClellan follows a NMFS protocol for 

 routine tagging and sampling of sea turtles. 



• McClellan takes carapace measurements. 



• Volunteers care for sea turtles at the Karen Beasley 

 Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. 



• At the turtle hospital, Sandy Sly cares for Catherine, 

 the sea turtle. Director jean Beasley in background. 



Topsail's Turtle Rehab 



t's controlled chaos and cacophony at the 

 turtle hospital. And it happens every day. 



Jean Beasley, founder and director of the Karen 

 Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center 

 explains what is happening. 



It's bath time for the 12 patients — one green, 

 one Kemp's ridley and 10 loggerheads. Volunteers 

 drain and disinfect the basins, bathe the turtles, give 

 medications and tend wounds. Then they refill the 

 basins with seawater that has been warmed to 

 around 76 degrees in tanks behind the hospital on 

 the sound side of south Topsail Beach. 



In a corner of this tight, humid room with a 

 wrap-around undersea-theme mural, is a tub labeled 

 "Catherine." Despite the similarity, Catherine the 

 turtle is not named for Catherine McClellan, the 

 researcher who sent the turtle here. It turns out the 

 spoil island near where the turtle was found is known 

 as St. Catherine's Island, according to Beasley. 

 "We never name them for people," she says. 



"They are named for places or life events — not pet 

 names. The names tell what happened to them or 

 what needs to be done." 



Beasley says Catherine's prognosis is good, 

 but she has a poor appetite and is still quite sick. She 

 probably aspirated, or took water into her lungs 

 when caught in a net. Her breathing rattles, and she 

 is getting Fortaz, an antibiotic — but the drug is 

 getting scarce since the hospital lost its supplier. 

 Drugs can be given to the turtles up (o a year after 

 expiration for human use. 



Other turtles have visible injuries. Abolt had a 

 gangrenous front flipper from being trapped in a net. 

 And he had ingested a foot-long piece of the fishing 

 net that had trapped him. The flipper was ampulati cl 

 at North Carolina State University College of 

 Veterinary Medicine. Greg Lewbart and Craig Harms 

 of NC State are consulting doctors tor the hospital. 



Honey has a lateral gash in the upper shell, but 

 her injuries were much more severe; She was 

 dropped 12 feet from a fishing net to a boat deck, 

 and her plastron, or undershell, was ruptured. She 

 required surgery, but is recovering nicely. 



Bay, a green turtle, is languidly eating lettuce. He 

 was hit by a boat propeller and caught in a net. Air 

 trapped under his shell keeps his rear suspended 

 peculiarly in the water. 



"The fisherman railed at 6 a.m.," Beasley recalls. 

 "He gave up a day of fishing to bring the turtle in." 



While many injuries are caused by commercial 

 gear, Beasley credits the fishers who bring turtles to 

 the hospital, and cautions against "living in a glass 

 house." 



"Unless you can say you're doing everything 

 you < an to protect the environment, " she says, "you 

 can't throw stones " 



the turtle hospital has existed for live wars, vi\ s 

 Beasley, w ith one and a half years of turtle MASH 

 before that." At that time, sick or injured turtles were 

 taken to Florida for treatment, she says. 



The hospital is staffed entirely with volunteers 

 and funded through donations. 



For more information or to follow case histories 

 of the turtles, go to www.seaturtlehospital.org or write: 

 Sea Turtle Hospital. P.O. Box 3012, Topsail Ben h. 

 NC 28445. —C.H. 



COASTWATCH 



