Cold snap threatens Florida’s marine life

As frozen sharks wash up in Cape Cod, Florida marine life faces its own winter perils this week.

The Indian River Lagoon and other coastal waters could be frigid death traps for threatened sea turtles, manatees and other marine life. But rescuers are ready. “We put all our members on alert,” said Sheila Harnois, a volunteer with the nonprofit Sea Turtle Preservation Society, based in Indialantic.

Colder water temperatures this week could “stun” sea turtles and stress manatees — some fatally — in the Indian River Lagoon and other coastal waters, wildlife advocates worry.

For sea turtles, the threat comes when their internal temperature dips below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

The cold-blooded reptiles rely on external sources of heat to set their body temperature. If they can’t swim to warmer waters in time, they can die.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is already seeing some of the frigid fallout.

“Nearly 100 turtles have been rescued so far,” Kipp Frohlich, director of the FWC’s division of habitat and species conservation, said in a news release Wednesday. “We are also monitoring the Mosquito Lagoon and other areas of the state to see if sea turtles are being impacted there.”

Sea turtles typically begin to migrate south by late October. For unknown reasons, however, some don’t leave early enough.

Turtles foraging in the shallows and inlets are the most susceptible because the water temperatures there can dip faster than in deeper waters.

Water temperatures in the lagoon already have dropped to the mid-50s this week, according to temperature monitors operated by the St. Johns River Water Management District.

As of Tuesday, the two main sea turtle cold-stunning sites are St. Joseph Bay in Gulf County and Mosquito Lagoon in Brevard County, according to the FWC.

Temperatures are expected to drop low enough to “stun” sea turtles in the Mosquito Lagoon today and Saturday.

The FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg has tanks to temporarily hold sea turtles.

FWRI staff will coordinate with staff from Canaveral National Seashore, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and NASA to search for turtles in distress and transport them to holding tanks or rehabilitation facilities, if needed, wildlife officials said.

Some turtles that strand locally would be taken to the Brevard Zoo.

In 2014, the zoo — in partnership with the Sea Turtle Preservation Society, — opened a $150,000, 2,400-square-foot Sea Turtle Healing Center.

For years, the STPS had urged the zoo to create the healing center.

Often, turtles they rescued died en route to faraway rehabilitation centers.

One was more than 100 miles away, and severe winters can strand hundreds of coldstunned turtles at a time.

Eight years ago, sea turtles, manatees and fish endured one of the deadliest cold snaps for Florida marine life on record.

In January 2010, cold temperatures killed hundreds of turtles, manatees and untold fish statewide.