Statistics Paint Grim Picture For Sea Turtles
A young loggerhead sea turtle swims lopsided in a giant tub at Mote Marine's animal hospital in Sarasota, recovering from two severe boat propeller gashes that stranded him in Fort Pierce six months ago.
The turtle, called Billy by the hospital staff, is one of 683 loggerheads that washed up injured or dead on Florida beaches last year. As a survivor of his injuries he is a rare statistic, but part of a dismal and baffling decade-long trend prompting concern about the species' future.
About 80 percent of stranded sea turtles are found dead, victims of disease, boat injuries and entanglements in garbage and fishing line, said Allen Foley, a wildlife biologist and sea turtle expert with theFlorida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
He said years of increased loggerhead strandings -- spiking in the bad red tide year of 2006, when more than 1,200 loggerheads washed ashore -- coincide with a 41 percent decline in loggerhead nests on state beaches.
The combination of increased strandings and decreased nests could jeopardize the animals' long-term survival.
