by Deborah Huso
Courtesy National Aquarium in Baltimore
While the National Aquarium’s Marine Animal Rescue Program’s key purpose is to rescue stranded marine creatures, a special side benefit is how it teaches visitors to protect those creatures in the first place.
They have lived on the Earth for millions of years, virtually unchanged. They were here with the dinosaurs and long before man ever walked the Earth or explored the sea. But today, all seven species of the world’s sea turtles are considered endangered or threatened, their numbers dwindling substantially just in the last 50 years.
They have lived on the Earth for millions of years, virtually unchanged. They were here with the dinosaurs and long before man ever walked the Earth or explored the sea. But today, all seven species of the world’s sea turtles are considered endangered or threatened, their numbers dwindling substantially just in the last 50 years.
The Kemp’s Ridley, one of the sea turtle species that frequents the Chesapeake Bay in spring and summer, has a nesting population right now of about 1,000; whereas 60 years ago, their nesting population hovered around 42,000. Their ever-decreasing numbers are disheartening, not just for the endangered turtles that frequent bay waters in the warmer months, but for humans as well.
Because they have survived for millennia, sea turtles’ sudden proximity to extinction could very well be a bellwether for us all. Given the fact that sea turtles occupy the top of the food chain, the potential impact of their extinction on the ocean’s web of life could be significant, as any biologist who understands the complex interweaving of the world’s food chains can attest. The sea turtle is only one among a variety of species that are threatened within the Chesapeake Bay’s waters.
But endangered marine animals are not alone in their struggle to survive. Research groups around the globe are struggling to help those that are most threatened by the actions of humans. Among them are members of the Baltimore National Aquarium’s 17-year-old Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP), which responds to calls of live stranded marine creatures, sea turtles among them, and attempts to rehabilitate those animals and return them to the sea while also educating the public about why the animals end up stranded in the first place.
How MARP Got Started
Turtles are rehabilitated at the National Aquarium, with the ultimate goal of release into their natural habitat. Courtesy National Aquarium in Baltimore.
The National Aquarium never really intended to get into the stranded sea animal business. In 1991, the aquarium received a call about a stranded seal in Ocean City, Maryland. They responded, and the aquarium’s rescue program formally began a short while later with the authorization of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its membership in the National Stranding Network. The aquarium currently responds to calls mostly in Maryland waters, but occasionally in Virginia and Delaware as well.
It is the only facility that responds to live animal strandings in Maryland. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) handles dead strandings. The most rescued sea creatures are seals and sea turtles. Among those turtles are the rare green sea turtle, the more common juvenile loggerheads, the Kemp’s Ridley, and occasionally leatherbacks. According to stranding coordinator Jennifer Ditmar, MARP receives about 30 to 40 calls on strandings per year, but only a handful of those will actually be rescued and maybe only three to five rehabilitated. Many of the calls MARP receives are for animals that are not actually in need but are just perceived to be by the public. In these cases, MARP usually monitors the stranded animal for 24 to 48 hours to make sure it will be okay on its own.
The Animals MARP Rescues
While MARP has rescued everything from porpoises and dolphins to manatees and pygmy sperm whales, the majority of calls are for seals, especially in winter months. Seals are cold water creatures and live in bay waters throughout the winter. Seals are especially vulnerable to humans because they eat the same creatures that humans do, so they compete with fisheries.
Sea turtles, on the other hand, tend to be the victims of more direct human interaction—getting tangled in fishing nets or being hit by boat propellers. The big season for sea turtles in the Chesapeake Bay is mid-May through August, when anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 sea turtles enter the bay to forage. Because sea turtles are cold-blooded animals, they require warm waters and spend their winters in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Florida, or in the Caribbean. When spring comes, they follow the Gulf Stream up the Atlantic coast, some stopping off to feed in the Chesapeake Bay. Of these, most are juveniles for whom the bay has become a fertile ground for development and feeding. Others move up the coast of New England as far as Maine.
Of the four species that can be found in the Chesapeake Bay, the Kemp’s Ridley is the most endangered, as they nest exclusively on one beach off the coast of Texas. Sea turtles do not typically nest in the Maryland waters MARP serves. Tricia Kimmel, acting stranding coordinator with the DNR, believes it’s because Maryland waters are just too cold.
Little is known about adult male sea turtles and juveniles or the general foraging practices of turtles in northern waters. Food sources for the sea turtles in the Chesapeake Bay obviously remain plentiful, as many return to the region to feed year after year. “But their fortunes, of course,” says Molly Sheehan with the National Aquarium, “are inextricably linked to the health of the bay.”
All sea turtles do not eat the same things; their diet depends on their species. The Kemp’s Ridley is mostly a bottom feeder, eating crabs, clams, and shrimp. Green sea turtles tend to be vegetarians, while loggerheads eat jellyfish and fish. It is not clear whether turtles can be impacted by pollution in the water or in the foods they eat, but it is clear that humans have impacts on these creatures in other ways.
Seal and Sea Turtle Strandings
The main reasons stranding teams came into existence were to try to help marine animals negatively impacted by human activities have a fighting chance to survive as well as to collect data about the animals.
Seals often come onto beaches to lie in the sun, nurse, or give birth. It’s not always a stranding situation, so MARP likes to monitor animals before reacting to a call from the public. A decade ago, MARP tracked a released hooded seal for 10 months. He traveled over 10,000 miles in that time. A harbor seal MARP rescued in 1996 but who was unreleasable because of a gunshot wound is still alive and well at the Detroit Zoo.
While many of the sea turtles that strand on Maryland’s beaches are already dead, when a live stranding occurs the National Aquarium responds, often as a result of calls from the DNR, U.S. Coast Guard, or a local police force.
“An injured sea turtle will be incapacitated,” says Ditmar, “and then get washed ashore.” Among the common human-related injuries are boat propeller wounds or blunt force trauma from collision with a boat as well as entanglements in fishing gear. Many are injured by shrimp trawlers that don’t use turtle excluder devices (TEDs), though the use of TEDs is required in both the United States and Mexico.
After the National Aquarium finds out where the live stranded animal is, about how large it is, and what its injuries may be, staff or volunteers head out to the bay to rescue the animal. If the call is on the Atlantic coast, they will send a volunteer stranding team from Ocean City. Volunteers are specially trained to assist with marine animal rescue and are often boat captains, EMTs, or firefighters in daily life.
Ditmar says once a stranding team arrives on the scene and the animal is evaluated, it is made ready for transport back to the aquarium.
“The animal is usually the easiest part to handle,” notes Ditmar. “What’s more challenging is the public outreach, because people are naturally attracted to the situation on the beach.”
She says it’s important for stranding team members to try to educate the public as they prepare the sea turtle or other rescued sea animals for transport since humans are the ultimate cause of a lot of the strandings.
The stranding team moves the injured animal in a special carrier lined with foam to give the animal padding and allow it to breathe more easily. If it’s a long trip, they’ll use salt water to keep the animal moist. Once back at the aquarium, the animal’s injuries will be treated, and he will be rehabilitated and, hopefully, returned to the sea. Ditmar says MARP’s primary focus is getting injured animals back into their natural environment.
Rescued Animals Educate the Public
Sometimes, rehabilitation and release just isn’t possible. Some years ago, the aquarium brought in an injured Kemp’s Ridley they call Calypso. She had an infection in her front flipper, which had to be amputated. As a result, she could never survive again in the wild, so the aquarium kept her. In a way, she has become part of the aquarium’s mission by helping to educate visitors about sea turtles and how humans can negatively impact their ability to survive.
Currently, Calypso is part of the aquarium’s “Wings of Water” exhibit. Under NOAA regulations, the National Aquarium cannot use rescued marine life for exhibits unless they are non-releasable, like Calypso. So today, Calypso is a vivid reminder to visitors of how humans can impact wild creatures.
But even the animals that the aquarium rehabilitates and can’t display to visitors serve as an educational tool. Ditmar says if MARP has recently released an animal and is tracking it, they let kids who visit as part of school groups track the creature’s movements—its favorite habitats and migration patterns becoming apparent over the course of time. Many of these animals that have been fitted with satellite tags have their stories posted on the aquarium’s website.
Aquarium staff also educate visitors through the use of artifacts from rescued animals, such as sea turtle shells, seal pelts, and dolphin skulls, which they can find on display. They use interpretive tools like plastic bags to demonstrate how a sea turtle could mistake such an item for a squid or jellyfish and ingest it. MARP staff also attend a variety of fairs and festivals where they teach visitors about human impacts on marine life.
Kimmel with the DNR says the majority of the calls her organization receives on strandings come from the public. “We rely on reports from public citizens,” Kimmel explains, “so it’s important to educate the public about these strandings.”
“Over half the animals we rescue have been injured because of human-related causes,” says Ditmar. “It’s important for us to give back to these animals.” Ditmar says marine animals need human help sometimes, especially sea turtles. “Their numbers are small enough that each individual we can get back out there in the sea can make a big difference.”
How You Can Help Marine Animals Survive
- Marine animals are sensitive to and impacted by the activities of humans. You can increase the survival rate of the marine creatures that frequent the Chesapeake Bay and other marine environments simply by being responsible while enjoying the beach and water and while engaging in normal everyday activities. “Ocean health begins at home,” says Ditmar.
- Watch for animals when boating, especially turtles. Obey speed limits. Many are injured by boat strikes even though they are relatively easy to spot at the surface of the water.
- Don’t litter on the beach. Debris in the water can resemble food sources. For example, plastic bags resemble jellyfish. Animals can get sick or die from eating trash, including discarded fishing hooks and line.
- Don’t use pesticides and fertilizers on your lawn. Look for organic alternatives, as anything that’s on your lawn eventually makes its way into the water.
- Make sensible, sustainable seafood choices. The National Aquarium, for example, offers seafood watch cards that visitors can have to keep in their wallets to help them determine what to eat at restaurants.
- If you find a stranded animal on the beach, whether alive or dead, or a seal or sea turtle in distress in the water, do not attempt to move the creature. Call the Maryland Natural Resources Stranding Hotline for help at 1-800-628-9944.
Deborah Huso is a freelance writer based in Blue Grass, Virginia, and writes extensively on travel, outdoor recreation, history, and home restoration and design for publications that have included Preservation Magazine, The Progressive Farmer, Old House Journal, and Military Officer. Contact her at www.drhuso.com.
What types of media have you found to be most successful to reach large audiences?
In the late Douglas Adams’s novel, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, two women walk along the beach, having finally realized their lifelong dream of seeing the Pacific Ocean. One turns to the other and says, “You know, it’s not as big as I expected.”
The Problem with Plastic
by Alison Barratt
Steven Siegel/Marine Photobank
Stretching away from Hawai’i like pearls in the Pacific blue are the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. They’re a chain of small volcanic atolls, seamounts, and islands, uninhabited by humans, but home to spectacular breeding colonies of one of our planet’s greatest ocean wanderers—the albatross.
Two of the 22 species of albatross nest here, on U.S. soil. Three-quarters of the world’s endangered black-footed albatross and 90 percent of the global population of Laysan albatross make an annual and brief pilgrimage to these remote isles. A select few choose to nest in urban Hawaiian “mainland” neighborhoods, and the “gooney birds,” as they are affectionately known, can be seen using local roads as runways for takeoff. However, the vast majority prefer the isolation of Laysan and Midway, 1,000 miles from civilization.
In 1891, the first ornithologists stepped onto the shores of an avian paradise, Laysan Island, to catalog and collect on behalf of Walter Rothschild of the international banking dynasty. Rothschild had a lifelong passion for zoology and frequently funded expeditions around the world to collect specimens. He was also a well-known eccentric who drove around London in a carriage pulled by zebras.
The resulting publication, The Avifauna of Laysan in 1893, included a series of photographic plates which, in the words of the expedition’s leader, “illustrates much better the immense numbers of this bird, and its utter fearlessness and tameness, than any description possibly could.” He also noted, sadly, their inherent vulnerability, “albatross…extremely foolish and fearless; can be caught with the hands.”
Although albatrosses have historically selected remote and human-free nesting sites, they have (unfortunately) not remained free from human impact. Vast colonies like the one seen by these early explorers no longer exist. In the United States, as elsewhere, albatross colonies have been subjected to the depredations of introduced predators and non-native species, egg raiding, feather collecting, and guano mining (as well as the construction of roads, railroads, and other structures needed to better exploit these resources).
Today, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have national monument status and the waters that surround them are part of one of the largest marine protected areas in the world. Though efforts have been made to reverse some of man’s impacts, such as eradication of pests and predators, much of the landscape was irrevocably altered. Although the Laysan albatross survived, other species unique and endemic to Laysan Island can now only be found in collections like those of Rothschild, most of which was sold to the American Museum of Natural History in 1932.
Today new threats face the world’s seabirds. Caught accidentally by fishing hooks and tangled in nets, albatross species worldwide have experienced devastating population declines. Because albatrosses lay only one egg each year, or sometimes every other year, keeping up with the estimated 100,000 deaths per year in fishing gear is simply not feasible. Nineteen of the 22 species of albatross are considered at risk of extinction.
Fortunately, there are some practical solutions and many fisheries—including all fisheries in the U.S. (under mandate)—have adopted techniques and devices to prevent and mitigate albatross deaths.
Perhaps the greatest modern threat to Laysan albatross is plastic trash. Even on the remote beaches of Midway Atoll or Laysan Island you will find objects all too familiar: toothbrushes, shampoo bottle caps, and disposable cigarette lighters, all to be found hundreds of miles from the nearest convenience store. These items are brought by wind and tides, and perhaps more disturbingly, brought by foraging albatrosses to feed their hungry chicks.
Where does all this debris come from, and how does it get here? There are multiple sources. Some comes from cargo, accidentally spilled from container ships. Then there’s fishing gear, abandoned or discarded. Most likely it’s trash that has been carelessly disposed of: litter tossed in the street, washed by rain into city storm drains, out into our waterways, and finally into the ocean.
In the late 1800s, albatross populations were devastated by egg and feather collecting. Many populations have slowly rebounded, only to face new 21st-century challenges. Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, D.C.
Winds and tides carry marine debris across the ocean to regions where currents slow and their floating cargo becomes trapped in a slow, timeless dance around a circulating body of water known as a gyre. The gyre closest to foraging Laysans is the North Pacific Gyre, now infamously known by another name: “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” Sadly, it’s far from unique. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that 46,000 pieces of plastic litter are floating in every square mile of our oceans. You won’t, however, see photos of this ocean-going landfill, as most of the plastic pieces drift unseen below the surface. Over weeks and months, plastic subjected to sunlight begins to photodegrade, breaking into smaller and smaller pieces suspended in the water column. These fragments resemble krill or other small ocean critters (plankton) at the base of the food chain. This faux food is eaten by fish, birds, and young sea turtles with fatal consequences. In some parts of the Pacific, scientists estimate that there are six pieces of plastic for every planktonic animal. Over time, the plastic continues to break down into ever more microscopic pieces, until it is the size of dust particles. And yet it persists. Plastic is forever. Every piece of plastic ever made is still in existence somewhere.
Albatrosses travel hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles in search of food for a chick on the nest. Colorful squid will usually attract their attention. Plastic, apparently, has the same shiny appeal. Both food and non-food items are swallowed and stored in a special upper stomach chamber to be regurgitated days later to feed the chick. Although chicks are able to expel some plastic items, others remain, which may result in loss of appetite (the young bird feels satiated and stops eating), dehydration, weight loss, and blockages in the digestive tract. Scientists estimate that up to 40 percent of the Laysan albatross chicks that die each year have eaten a large volume of plastic and other indigestible items.
Meet Makana!
This Laysan albatross, whose name means “gift” in Hawaiian, is the albatross-in-residence at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. As far as we know, she’s the only one at any zoo or aquarium in the world right now, and certainly the only one in North America. When the aquarium learned that the injured seabird was in need of a home (and faced euthanasia if she didn’t find one), staff immediately responded that they would gladly take her in. With a mission “to inspire conservation of the oceans” at the heart of everything it does, the Monterey Bay Aquarium seemed a natural destination for the young seabird. Today she serves as an ambassador for her species and inspires aquarium visitors to want to protect albatross and all ocean wildlife from the dangers posed by plastic litter.
Unlike the aquarium’s other presenter-led interpretive programs involving live animals, the daily “Makana show” is based entirely on her goodwill and willingness to leave her private quarters behind the scenes. Through positive reinforcement, she follows a target to a custom-designed cart used as a platform for her daily program. She is generally obliging, having fostered a strong connection with the “Makana team” who work regularly with her, provide her meals and daily enrichments, and even occasionally partner with her in a mating dance!
Visitors are generally amazed at how calmly and serenely she stands on her cart. She is clearly untethered and free to leave if she chooses. However, she has no natural fear of humans and the aquarium’s husbandry staff has worked with her, using enrichments and reward, to help her become accustomed to the attentions of a small crowd of admirers.
Though most of us have heard of albatross and perhaps seen photos or video, it doesn’t follow that visitors will immediately realize they are looking at a very special bird indeed. (Some may think she’s nothing more than an “oversized seagull.”) The interpretation, therefore, has to address many aspects: who she is, how she came to be here, and why she is such an important ambassador for her species.
Makana’s body has a number of stories to tell about her adaptations to a life spent almost entirely at sea. Visitors are asked if her black “eye shadow” reminds them of any of their sporting heroes. Many know that black under the eye helps baseball and football players see better when playing in the glare of the sun. It’s easy to see how Makana’s charcoal eye makeup will be helpful during the many hours she spends on and over the sun-kissed waters of the Pacific. A careful look at Makana’s long and sharply hooked beak, adept at snaring a slippery squid, reveals a clever feature known as a tubenose—specialized nasal plumbing that allows albatrosses to drink salt water and excrete the excess salt. It’s an essential adaptation for a bird that will not make landfall for up to five years from the time it first fledges.
Simple props also aid in the story-telling. A measuring tape held aloft by two volunteers from the audience illustrates the full extent of the Laysan wingspan. Pretty impressive at six feet! We hope, eventually, that Makana will spread her wings on cue. For now she sits smugly on her cart, looking down her tubenoses at us thinking, “overgrown seagull, indeed!”
A second tape stretches out to 12 feet and shows how southern hemisphere albatrosses such as the wandering and royal albatross are the record holders for wingspan. For us humans, the idea of arms outstretched to six feet is pretty awe-inspiring. We imagine holding out our arms for even a few minutes and wonder at a bird that can glide for days at a time without tiring. To learn that an albatross’s heartbeat in flight is virtually no faster than when resting, it seems to defy belief!
Makana inspires us to ponder: When we throw things “away,” where is away? Did we imagine “away” was a trip to Hawai’i, to become the next meal for a hungry albatross? Of course not.
To foster ocean stewardship we have to reach beyond the things we can touch and see, to immerse ourselves in a world alien to our species and to connect with creatures whose lives seldom seem to touch our own—creatures like Makana and her kin, whom we may never meet. Except in our hearts. In our hearts we need to know that whales larger than any dinosaur still roam the oceans. That sharks, which pre-date forests, are still prowling the depths in search of their next meal. Sea turtles, survivors from the Mesozoic era still cross oceans as they have done for millennia; silent, seldom seen, more ancient than the mountains we think of as old, and yet which, in the eye of the sea turtle, are as young as saplings just grown from seed.
We don’t always need to visit a wild place to be glad that it exists just for its own sake and for the sake of animals that pass through or call it home. Stewardship can begin in our own home. We can touch the lives of those we may never see, with no voice to thank us. But future generations will. For them we can preserve and restore the diversity and richness of our planet through the simple actions that we take each and every day. As simple as a re-usable tote bag, our own coffee mug to-go, and a little thought and consideration on how our daily lives impact this ocean planet that we and so many others call home.
Alison Barratt is the communications associate manager at the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Center for the Future of the Oceans. To learn more visit www.montereybayaquarium.org/plastics and www.oceanaction.org.