Saving the Sea Turtle:

The flipper of olive ridley sea turtle No. 111-17 occasionally breaks the surface of the water, throwing up splashes of liquid. The veterinarians who have come to the Penghu Fishery Research Center (PFRC) of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Fisheries Research Institute for the annual sea turtle health inspection all smile on seeing how active it is.

In contrast, the green sea turtle in the next tank over has them furrowing their brows with worry. Discovered early this year in coastal waters, where it was showing no signs of movement, 113-04 simply floats on the surface like a fallen leaf, turning in circles with the flow of the water. It is only when people approach even closer that the sensitive turtle makes a very slight motion.

A conservation zone for hatchling survival

As pelagic migratory animals, sea turtles travel back and forth between their habitats and the places where they lay their eggs. They frequently appear in the warm sea waters off Northeastern Taiwan, Southern Taiwan, and the Penghu Islands.

Besides being a place where a number of sea turtle species find food, Taiwan is also a major egg-laying habitat for green sea turtles.

In 1995 the Penghu County Government designated the area around Wang’an Island as a wildlife conservation zone. It remains a safe place for female green sea turtles to lay their eggs to this day.

Since the PFRC’s Penghu Sea Turtle Rescue Center (PSTRC) was set up in 1997 it has devoted itself to rescuing stranded turtles, and provided a shelter for physically weak late-hatched baby turtles.

Xu Zhonggang, an associate researcher at the PSTRC, says that over the last 27 years the center has sheltered 620 sea turtles, including hatchlings, of which 342 have been successfully released into the wild. The veterinarians who are there on the day of our visit are not only checking the status of rescued sick and injured turtles, but also confirming the condition of turtles which are due to be released back into the ocean.

The veterinary team of the Taiwan Cetacean Society gives sea turtle 113-04 a complete physical to try to determine why it can’t submerge.

In addition to the islands of Penghu’s Wang’an Township, the beaches of Xiaoliuqiu Island are another important habitat where female sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. (courtesy of OCA)

Sea turtle 112-40, which has lost its left front flipper, is otherwise in good health and is at the final stage before being returned to the sea.

Xu Zhonggang, associate researcher at the Penghu Sea Turtle Rescue Center, has worked for many years to rescue stranded sea turtles. The white canvas object in the photo is a stretcher he created for carrying sea turtles.

The last mile before release

In another part of the PTSRC, turtle 113-04, which weighs several tens of kilograms, is being gently placed on a soft pad by veterinarians from the Taiwan Cetacean Society (TCS) so that they can carry out various health checks.

Chen Yu-rong, a veterinarian with the TCS rescue team, relates that even before a turtle is removed from its tank, they observe all of its behaviors, including swimming postures and reactions when encountering humans, because each and every movement made by a sea turtle can be an important clue to its physical condition.

“You can imagine how you might react if one day when you weren’t feeling well you were suddenly grabbed by an alien,” she says.

Moreover, the observations made during routine daily care of each turtle are also important indicators for ­judging its health status. Xu Zhonggang is the heart and soul of the PSTRC, and every day he and his partners meticulously feed the turtles, clean the water in their tanks, and closely observe their energy levels.

“When it first came in, the muscle in its left front flipper had decomposed to the point where the bone was visible, which we treated by cleaning the wound and applying medication. Now you only need to look at its neck and you can see how well it has recovered.” Comparing Xu's description of turtle 111-17’s condition when it first arrived with the well-fed creature we see today, they seem like two different animals.

Depending on their individual physical condition, post-care rehabilitation for sheltered sea turtles can take anything from a few months to several years, until ultimately they can return to the sea following careful evaluation by experts.

Xu cites the example of turtle 112-40, which has lost its left front flipper, and is currently still at the PSTRC. Experts note that there are sea turtles living in the wild that are missing one or more limbs, and therefore one cannot say categorically that a turtle with a missing limb cannot be released. Thus the team has increased the level of health checks on this animal and continues to reassess the feasibility of returning it to the open ocean. Conversely, says Xu: “Right now there are two sea turtles at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Pingtung which are unable to submerge and so have been assessed as not suitable for release.” He explains that when sea turtles are brought into the shelter most have not ingested any food for a long time, and a long-term build-up of air inside their shells causes them to float. But after they begin eating again, they usually return to normal. On the other hand, turtles that cannot be nursed back to health after a long period of care very likely have irreversible illnesses or injuries, which reduces their chances of being released into the wild.

Ko Ching-lin, section chief in the Marine Conservation Division of the Ocean Conservation Administration, fits satellite tracking devices to some sea turtles released into the wild to provide more comprehensive research data.

Besides being stranded on beaches, becoming part of fishing boat bycatch is another reason why sea turtles need to be rescued. The photo shows Coast Guard personnel assisting a turtle that was accidentally caught by a fishing vessel. (courtesy of OCA)

Every sea turtle brought into a shelter must receive a thorough veterinary checkup. (courtesy of NMMBA)

The Ocean Conservation Administration offers classes to teach frontline personnel such as coastguards and the OCA’s own coastal patrol staff how to deal with stranded sea turtles. (courtesy of OCA)

The Marine Animal Rescue Network

According to past research, the main reasons why sea turtles lose vitality and end up getting stranded include their being accidentally mixed up with fishing catch, ­being struck by vessels, mistakenly eating marine trash, or getting snagged in abandoned fishing nets.

Statistics from the Ocean Conservation Administration (OCA) of the Ocean Affairs Council show that only some 20–30% of stranded sea turtles are still alive when found.

To improve the chances of stranded turtles being discovered while they are still alive and so increase the numbers that can be rescued and will survive, the OCA founded the Marine Animal Rescue Network (MARN) in 2019. This network brings together central government agencies, local governments, and academic institutions with a clearly defined four-way division of labor: on-site rescue; care and shelter; forensic analysis; and public education. The aim is to gain more time for the rescue of beached cetaceans and sea turtles.

Ko Ching-lin, section chief in the Marine Conservation Division of the OCA, notes that the creation of MARN and advances in technology have made reporting much easier. These factors enable more citizens to do their part for conservation by calling their 1999 local government hotlines or the Coast Guard Administration’s 118 hotline. Turtle 113-04 was rescued because one evening citizens noticed it was floating abnormally and they called in to make a report.

Li Tsung-hsien notes that virtually all sea turtles placed in shelters excrete human-generated trash during their stays. (courtesy of NMMBA)

Improperly discarded fish hooks may be eaten by sea turtles, causing serious injury. (courtesy of OCA)

Caregivers administer medication to sea turtles by inserting pills into their food.

Li Tsung-hsien (second from right), assistant researcher in the Biology Department of the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, works with other team members to care for injured sea turtles.

Treating through eating

Taiwan has seven sea turtle rescue centers in total, and the shelter capacity of the one at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium (NMMBA) in Checheng, Pingtung County, is second only to that of the PFRC. As well as being a rescue center and shelter for injured sea turtles, it is a bastion of sea turtle research in Taiwan.

Squid, shrimp, crab, and oyster, carefully weighed out according to a chart, make up the “special diet” for sea turtles at the NMMBA shelter. Care staff take pills and capsules out of pill organizers and insert the medicines into this food. Looking carefully at the chart, one can see that there are even notes in red ink showing which of the patients are picky eaters.

Li Tsung-hsien, an assistant researcher in the Biology Department of the NMMBA, explains that the types and amounts of food fed to sea turtles at the shelter are individually tailored to each animal’s physical condition, with customized medications and nutrition. For example, a seriously injured turtle will be given extra protein, and its diet will be further adjusted according to its state of health as it moves into later stages of treatment and rehabilitation.

Li notes that as turtles get closer to being ready for release, the research team will adjust their diets to feed them the kinds of algae that they commonly consume in the ocean, such as red seaweed and sea lettuce.

After the sea turtles’ meals are prepared, there is also an art to feeding them. By putting food into a tank at different depths, researchers can observe how well the resident turtle is diving. Moreover, careful records must be kept of those turtles that only eat the meat without consuming the medications, so that veterinarians can change the types of medicine given. Records must also be kept of turtles who are picky eaters, so that they can be fed with alternative foods. Many “custom meal plans” are prepared for the turtles, all with the aim of enabling the sick and injured animals to return to the sea as soon as possible.

Li Tsung-hsien says with a smile that the first case he encountered when he started working at the shelter was an adult turtle that refused to eat and simply floated on the surface all day long. He had to patiently try out various alternatives before the day arrived when the turtle was finally willing to open its mouth and consume food. After that, it made rapid progress in recovering its health and the following year was returned home to the sea.

Taiwan’s achieve­ments in sea turtle conservation are shared with other countries through the Ocean Conservation Administration’s participation in the annual International Sea Turtle Sym­posium, making a contribution to global sea turtle studies. (courtesy of OCA)

Stories of sea turtles

There is no universal treatment for sick or injured sea turtles, and for each fresh case the rescue team must get to know the newcomer from scratch. As they do this, they find they are turning the pages of stories that no one has seen before.

Li says: “In the process of rescuing and sheltering turtles, we see the kinds of threats they face.” Mistakenly ingested plastic garbage or fishing hooks tell of the damage that humankind is doing to the sea. Decreasingly effective antibiotics indicate that the development of resistance to medications is no longer limited to people. Fibropapillomatosis, a debilitating neoplastic disease whose cause is as yet uncertain but is currently thought to be associated with chelonid herpesvirus 5 (ChHV5), constitutes another threat to sea turtles.

“By accumulating scientific research, we hope to be able to offer measures that solve such problems at source. Otherwise, there will always be more sick turtles needing help than the shelter can cope with,” he says.

The team at the shelter uses autopsy reports on stranded turtles to provide concrete and objective evidence about injuries caused to these creatures by fishing activities, thereby laying the foundation for the creation of conservation zones. Li’s doctoral thesis, based on statistical data on rescued turtles, created the world’s first indicators for predicting the survival of rescued sea turtles; it also proved that floating sea turtles are statistically at a much greater risk of dying than are other turtles.

Sea turtle rescue centers and shelters help us to see more of the threats facing these animals, and to understand that the obstacles to their returning to normal lives are created mainly by mankind. Only by taking practical actions like reducing plastic waste and using turtle-­friendly fishing nets can we enable them to roam the seas without care, and only then will their story have a happy ending.

Watched over by a crowd, this sea turtle makes its way back to the sea. (courtesy of OCA)