Rare Turtle Returned to the Gulf

Mote Marine Laboratory researchers and volunteers completed an international loop Tuesday morning. A crowd was on hand to see one of the rarest sea turtles returned to home waters.

The Kemp's ridley that hatched on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico wound up in the frigid waters near Holland.

The juvenile turtle somehow lost its way, perhaps swept by ocean currents, and wound up thousands of miles from home.

After three years of care and rehabilitation in Holland and Portugal, the marine animal was carried across the sands of Lido Beach this morning and returned to the warm embrace of the Gulf waters.

The Dutch dubbed the turtle “Johnny” and the Portuguese added, “Vasco da Gama,” for their famous explorer.

The Portuguese airline TAP flew the animal and his handlers to Miami, where they were escorted to Mote Marine by representatives of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the National Fisheries Service.

The Kemp's ridley got special treatment for a reason. It is listed as highly endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, composed of 169 nations, including the United States.

Import or export of such highly endangered animals are only allowed only under “exceptional circumstances.” A variety of international forms is required. But the European environment is too cold for Kemp ridley turtles to survive in the wild.

Part of Johnny Vasco de Gama’s three-year European stay was not only rehabilitation.

“He or she, we don’t know the animal’s sex, was in care for three years while they figured out all the red tape,” said Tony Tucker, program manager for Mote’s sea turtle conservation and research program.

He said the turtle species is unusual because it practices “aggregated nesting activity.” Instead of a single female crawling ashore to bury a clutch of eggs, Kemp's ridley females come ashore in large numbers to create a communal nest.

While rare and endangered, Tucker says the Kemp's ridley turtles frequent  Charlotte Harbor, where they dine on spider crabs.   

How did  this one end up in Holland? Tucker speculated the animal was caught in the Gulf Stream current and swept to Europe. Once out of the warm current, the animal grew lethargic and eventually stranded on a beach.

Johnny Vasco da Gama is estimated to be five to six years old, and weighed 68 pounds before his release on Lido Beach. The animals are relatively small, with this one measuring 23 inches in length.

Tucker said the “Kemp” in the animals name refers to Richard Kemp, who worked in the Florida Keys in the 1880s, and identified it as a separate species.

The release marks the third sea turtle Mote has returned to the wild this month. Two loggerhead turtles were released on Dec. 16 after stranding in Englewood and Osprey. Mote maintains a Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital on Sarasota's City Island. It has treated more than 283 sick or injured turtles since 1995.

If you see a stranded or dead dolphin, whale or sea turtle in Manatee or Sarasota Waters, call Mote’s Stranding Investigations Program. The 24-hour response number is 941-988-0212.

If you see a stranded or dead dolphin, whale or sea turtle elsewhere in Florida, call the FWC Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-3922.

Johnny Vasco da Gama was fitted with a satellite transciever to allow scientists to monitor his movements. You too can follow his travels at http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/?project_id=141