Temperature drop spikes cold-stun sea turtle rescues

The New York Marine Rescue Center rehabilitation facility is already holding over 50 cold-stunned sea turtles in its tanks — a count that includes two records for number of rescues in a single day.

According to Maxine Montello, executive director of NYMRC, “Things are crazy here.” She said they started Nov. 25 with a single sea turtle, with 49 other strandings between Nov. 30 and Dec. 5. “We have had days of 12 to 15 turtles stranding on one day, which has never happened before,” she said.

Then on Saturday, Dec. 7, that record was broken, and a new one was established when 18 sea turtles were rescued, according to a NYMRC social media post.

Ms. Montello attributed the spike in cold-stun sea turtle strandings to the quick drop in air and water temperature. According to seatemperature.info, the average temperature in Long Island Sound dropped to 54 degrees Nov. 24.

Ms. Montello surmised that another contributing factor to the spike in rescues is that “we have doubled the size of our patrol team and our trained citizen scientists are walking daily looking for these turtles.”

Part of the work NYMRC does is host cold-stun sea turtle lectures and training sessions, where volunteers learn what to look for, how  to patrol beaches and what to do when a cold stunned sea turtle is found. Many of the lectures, which are the first part of the training, were held in local libraries this year. The 2025 schedule has not been posted yet, but keep an eye on the NYMRC website for next year’s dates and locations.

One need not be a trained volunteer to help sea turtles, however. The NYMRC stranding hotline — 631-369-9829 — is available to anyone who happens to come upon one, even if the turtle appears to be deceased. 

As previously reported by the Suffolk Times, Ms. Montello explained that, as cold-blooded reptiles, sea turtles can’t regulate their own body temperature. When the air temperature drops in the fall, so does the water temperature. Once the water reaches 55 degrees, sea turtles that haven’t left for warmer areas become susceptible to cold-stunning. 

The cold water slows the sea turtle’s movements, debilitating them. Cold-stunned sea turtles are unable to swim and wash ashore with the winds and tides. 

Here on the North Fork, a report of a cold-stunned sea turtle — an endangered Kemp’s ridley — found by Kendal Bayer on a remote stretch of Cutchogue beach on Wednesday, Dec. 4, was posted on social media. 

Jennifer Murray of Turtleback Conservation Center in Peconic, who posted the report, said a Long Island Sound hotspot for cold-stunned sea turtles runs between Iron Pier Beach and Duck Pond Road in Riverhead.

“The remote stretches are the most critical,” Ms. Murray said via text. “Like the stretch between Hallock State Park Preserve and Breakwater [Beach in Mattituck]. It’s best to go just after high tide if possible,” she added.  

Her post, like the one on the NYMRC feed, encourages beach walkers and trained patrols alike to make use of the cold stun hotline as soon as possible to increase the chance of survival for found sea turtles. 

Moving, attempting to warm or transporting the sea turtle without instructions from trained NYMRC biologists is strongly discouraged.

Other ways to help include monetary donations at nymarinerscue.org, purchasing supplies from their Amazon wishlist and, of course, spreading the word of the cold-stun hotline to anyone who spends any time on the beach in the offseason.