INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — And they’re off! Four loggerhead sea-turtles were released this weekend as part of the Sea Turtle Conservancy 2014 Tour de Turtles migration marathon.
And while there were no land records broken as they lumbered from the start gates to the waterline, they swiftly disappeared into the surf.
Their migratory patterns will be tracked via satellite over the next three months to raise awareness and enable scientists to learn more about these ancient, endangered animals.
As temperatures rapidly rose Saturday morning, Disney’s Vero Beach Resort cooled things off with a Frozen-themed event at Olaf’s Beach Party.
The release of the weekend’s first two loggerheads, Anna and Elsa, named after characters in the movie, was followed by Frozen-inspired sand sculpting and other engaging activities.
The turtles had laid their eggs in the wee morning hours before being transported to the Start Gate, where a satellite transmitter was attached to the carapace.
There they rested under the watchful gaze of researchers and well-wishers until being released.
“Sponsoring sea turtles as part of Tour de Turtles each year is a wonderful way to increase awareness among our guests so they can learn more about what they can do to help protect them,” said Jacqueline Lorenzetti, Disney external communications manager. “By showing our guests how they can get involved in protecting sea turtles, the team is making a difference for these animals.”
Sunday morning the process was repeated with Shelley and Melba being released from the beach in front of the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge Barrier Island Center.
The Barrier Island Center also hosted a crowd of roughly 250 guests at a Saturday evening event accompanied by musical entertainment by 23 Treez.
A spectacular lightning storm forced everyone to cozy up inside where they hovered over numerous silent auction selections.
The four local moms will join other sea turtles being released from important nesting sites in the western hemisphere – two green turtles and one hawksbill turtle in Costa Rica, two hawksbills in Nevis, two leatherback turtles in Panama, one juvenile green in Bermuda, and a rehabilitated loggerhead from a turtle hospital in Marathon.
“This will be a first time that we’re putting a transmitter on a loggerhead from the Florida Keys,” said Lexie Beach, Sea Turtle Conservancy communications coordinator.
Beginning Aug. 1, the public is invited to track their progress at www.tourdeturtles.org.
There you will also find games, information and interactive activities to help children learn about sea turtle conservation.
The turtles, which can each be ‘adopted,’ are swimming to bring awareness to various threats to their survival.
The four local loggerheads are alerting to the dangers of light pollution, plastic debris, water quality and commercial long-line fishing.
The threat of egg harvest for consumption was all too real for Esperanza, a green turtle in Tortuguero Costa Rica whose cause happened to be poaching, when researchers discovered the next morning that her nest had been poached.
The Costa Rican police quickly found the poacher and the eggs, and researchers reburied them in a new spot.
“We’re hoping that because it was within 24 hours they’ll be okay, and they’ll end up hatching in a few months. It was amazing that that was her cause, and she fell victim to it. It shows that it is still a very real problem,” said Beach.
On a happier note, they were fortunate to encounter a critically endangered hawksbill that will also be tracked.
Beach said that locally it has been a record year for leatherbacks, which as of July 21 had 79 nests within Archie Carr.
Loggerheads, at 11,831, are on pace with last year, but the 552 green turtles nests are nowhere near last year’s incredible record-breaking 12,846 nests.
“We actually had one Kemps ridley nest in the refuge this year; normally they nest in Texas so that was kind of crazy,” said Beach.
The rarest of the sea turtles, there were only two others here in the past 13 years.
“That type of sea turtle usually nests during the day and a guy actually got it on film.”
Nests are just now coming alive, with hatchlings scrambling skyward and making a mad dash to the sea to begin a perilous journey that will see only one in 1,000 survive to adulthood.
4 local loggerheads join Tour de Turtles migration marathon from Vero News on Vimeo.