Hawksbill Sea Turtle Tagged and Released

On Saturday, July 12, 2008, Gumbo Limbo received a special delivery; a critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle – with a fishhook in its mouth!  The juvenile sea turtle was caught by rod and reel at the Pompano fishing pier.  A representative from the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program brought the turtle to Gumbo Limbo for further care.  The turtle was about 18 inches long, and weighed approximately 24 lbs.  At this size, the gender can not be determined.  The fishhook was successfully removed on Sunday by Dr Jeanette Wynenken, FAU professor and world renowned sea turtle biologist, and Dr. Kirt Rusenko, Gumbo Limbo’s Marine Conservationist.

After a day of recovery, the hawksbill was taken to the Florida Fish and Wildlife office in Tequesta for tagging.  As Dr. Kirt was trying to tag the left front flipper, he ran into a problem – another fishhook!  This hook was rusty, partially exposed and promptly removed.  Antibacterial ointment was applied to the wound to prevent infection.  After applying flipper tags and a PIT tag (passive integrated transponder) the turtle came back to Boca for release.

On Monday, July 14th, the hawksbill was released from the Red Reef Park beach, and promptly swam away.  We hope that he/she steers clear of fishing piers and fishhooks!

Hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) normally do not nest on our Florida Beaches.  However, in 2006, Boca did have a confirmed hawksbill nest just south of the Boca Inlet.  Atlantic hawksbill’s normal nesting areas are the Caribbean Islands and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.  The largest population of nesting is found in the Northern Australian Great Barrier Reef region.  Hawksbills diet mainly consists of sponges and with our turtle a fish hook or two!

This past season, our sea turtle specialists encountered many dead sea turtles, mostly due to boat strikes.  Seeing a successful release of a sea turtle makes the work done at Gumbo Limbo extremely rewarding and hopeful of conserving these wonderful creatures that share our planet.

Submitted by: Sue Comoglio