NOAA's Current Turtle Totals

As published June 8 on NOAA's website:

A total of 322 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to June 8 within the designated spill area (The designated spill area for sea turtles and marine mammals is from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida). Between Monday, June 7, and Tuesday, June 8, 7 turtle strandings were verified; all were dead (Four in Mississippi, two in Louisiana, and one in Alabama. One from Louisiana had visible external oil on it). Thirty heavily oiled sea turtles have been captured in the on-water turtle search and rescue operation by NOAA, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and other partners working under the Unified Command. Twenty- five of those captured turtles are in rehabilitation at Audubon Aquarium in New Orleans, two turtles were collected dead and three captured alive subsequently died at the aquarium. A total of 37 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil. These include the 30 captured turtles from the on-water operation, four live stranded sea turtles (two caught in skimming operations) and three dead stranded sea turtles. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 322 turtles verified from April 30 to June 8, a total of 270 stranded turtles were found dead, 22 stranded alive. Three of those subsequently died. Three live stranded turtles have been released, including two that were found in Mississippi and released after rehabilitation in Ten Thousand Islands, Florida. There are 41 turtles in rehabilitation. Turtle strandings during this time period have been higher in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

From April 30 to June 8, 38 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of this, 36 dolphins stranded dead and two stranded alive. One died on the beach and another that stranded in Florida was euthanized. So far, two of the 38 stranded dolphins had evidence of external oil. However, we are unable at this time to determine whether the animals were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010. A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water.