Updated Turtle Statistics

NOAA's current totals:

A total of 527 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to June 21 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. Between Sunday, June 20, and Monday, June 21, 13 turtle strandings were verified (Ten dead in Mississippi, 2 dead in Alabama, and one dead in Louisiana). Ten live turtles were collected during offshore bird and turtle surveys by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Two of those were visibly oiled. There are now 116 sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 83 sea turtles captured as part of on-water survey and rescue operations, and 33 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 92 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. These include the 81 captured or collected turtles from on-water operations (75 live turtles, 3 collected dead and 3 found alive that died in rehabilitation), six live stranded turtles (two caught in oil skimming operations), and five dead stranded sea turtles. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 527 turtles verified from April 30 to June 21, a total of 396 stranded turtles were found dead, 41 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Four live stranded turtles were released, and 33 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle 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.

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Miss. and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico.

From April 30 to June 21, 50 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area - no change from June 20. Of the total 50 stranded dolphins, 46 dolphins stranded dead, four dolphins stranded alive and two of those have subsequently died, one on the beach and the other euthanized. The other two include one in rehabilitation at Audubon Aquarium found Saturday and one freed from between two oil booms. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on three dolphins. However, we are unable at this time to determine whether two of the dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle 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. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals.