Fall is Saving the Sea Turtles
Late October. The bird migration is well underway, beachgoers are leaving the shores for the luminous oranges and reds in the New England mountains, fresh crisp apples, pumpkins and apple-cider donuts. The barrier beaches of Cape Poge and Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuges begin to quiet, save for those die-hard surfcasters still trying for that big catch. Late October, as we shift into the quieter, fiery trees and the wondrous cool days of fall, overseeing the operations of three wildlife refuges on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, my mind transitions to the season of saving the sea turtles.
Nantucket Sound is an important seasonal feeding ground and migratory area for the endangered Leatherbacks, Kemp’s Ridleys, Loggerheads and Green Sea Turtles. Even on Nantucket in 2022, a record-breaking discovery of a Green Sea Turtle nest, though determined unproductive, elevates the importance of our coastal waters and barrier beaches in protecting and supporting these precious creatures. When ocean temperatures suddenly drop below 55 degrees F, sea turtles accustomed to warmer waters become cold-stunned, hypothermic, lethargic or unresponsive washing onto the shores of Cape Poge and Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuges. It is the season where the on-the-ground conservation heroes activate the network to save the sea turtles.
From the rangers of The Trustees of Reservations, the Gay Head Wampanoag of Aquinnah Natural Resources team, Marine Mammal Alliance Network, Nantucket Conservation Foundation, NOAA, Massachusetts Audubon Society and many coastal conservation heroes explore the beaches not for shells but for the chance to save the cold-stunned turtles. It is the season when the banana boxes full of sea turtles line the Hyline and Steamship ferry docks transporting them with waves of hope to the New England Aquarium Sea Turtle Hospital. With waves of hope…
Sea Turtles have gracefully populated the oceans for a millennia, well beyond the dinosaurs. Many living to a near century, they symbolize patience, wisdom, and grace. They are the epitome of resilience and hope living through dramatic climate changes, tectonic marathons and geo-morphophological acrobatics through 100 million years of Earth’s history. Listed as endangered beginning in the 1970s with international and federal laws, some species, such as the Green Sea Turtle have rebounded from near critical extinction to species of conservation concern. And indeed, this sea turtle conservation network succeeds, with over 500 endangered and threatened sea turtles treated at the Sea Turtle Hospital returned to their ocean home in Cape Cod Bay by September 2026.1
To those conservation heroes on the ground, saving our wise, patient, graceful, resilient sea turtles from the cold. Thank you. We’ll see you on the beach bringing waves of hope.
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