The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies released two Kemp’s ridley turtles on June 26, 2023 and two more Kemp’s ridley turtles on September 5, 2023 from the beaches of Pass Christian.  Two turtles were named in honor of our very supportive First Lady Elee Reeves and Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann.  The sea turtles had a satellite transmitter attached to their shell which will enable us to track the movements of “Elee”, “Delbert”, “Rosie”, and “Valentina” after release.  This project is part of an ongoing study conducted by our researchers.  These turtles did not come from Mississippi waters.  Mid-December 2022, IMMS was approached by our partners at NOAA to assist in rehabilitating sea turtles that had stranded in Massachusetts.  These turtles were “cold-stunned”.  Since sea turtles are ectothermic, their body temperatures decrease when local water temperatures drop.  Most of these sea turtles typically migrate South in the winter time but delays to their migrations causes these events.  Every year there are cold stun turtles in the area but these events have increased over the last few years with several hundred turtles stranding on the beaches in and around Cape Cod in 2022!

These sea turtles were first treated at the New England Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy, MA.  Once warmed and stabilized they were flown to Mississippi by a volunteer organization called Turtles Fly Too.  This organization donates flights for endangered species.  The turtles arrived in Gulfport on December 14, 2022.

IMMS staff as well as veterinary staff and student volunteers from Mississippi State University’s College for Veterinary Medicine received and processed thirty turtles.  These four turtles were part of this group of turtles.  Staff and volunteers worked through the late afternoon to do exams, radiographs, bloodwork and ultrasounds on each turtle.  Since then the turtles have been in IMMS’s care receiving fluids, antibiotics and daily care.  Several specialty veterinarians from MSU-CVM also looked at the turtles’ eyes, radiographs and ultrasounds to provide the best well rounded care for these animals.

Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are native to the Gulf of Mexico and our previously established telemetry data has indicated that the Mississippi Sound serves as a critical foraging area for juvenile turtles of this species.  Our researchers are particularly interested in determining where the “non-native” Massachusetts sea turtles will travel after release.  Will they attempt to travel back into the Atlantic Ocean where they originally stranded? Or will they stay within the Gulf of Mexico and continue their life cycles here?  This study is of significant importance because it is the first of its kind.  To date there have been no satellite telemetry studies conducted to determine the movements of these translocated sea turtles.

IMMS would like to give a special thanks the New England Aquarium, Turtles Fly Too, Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, NOAA, USFWS, MDMR, MDEQ, and local City and State partners for working collaboratively to help save this endangered species.

In order to compare our translocated cold-stunned sea turtles’ behavior with native turtles and continue our ongoing study of how these turtles utilize the Mississippi Sound, IMMS released three more juvenile Kemp’s ridleys in the fall.  All three turtles were accidentally captured by local fisherman on our piers.  After hook removal surgeries and medical treatment, the turtles were released back into Mississippi waters.  On October 10, 2023, “Jimmy” and “Tofu” were released and “Spraggins” was released on December 18, 2023.  We would like to thank the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources for their collaboration and support of these efforts.