JUNO BEACH, Fla. — Staff at Loggerhead Marinelife Center dubbed last month 'March Madness' after taking in a record 65 sea turtles. WPTV spoke with the Palm Beach County facility about the surge that highlights growing threats to sealife and how we can do our part to protect our oceans.
Cold weather creates crisis
Dr. Heather Barron, Chief Science Officer and veterinarian at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, says this year's unusually harsh winter hit young sea turtles particularly hard.
"We always get a certain number of what we call the 'spring greens' in, which are just these young turtles that are in that phase of life where they're near shore waters, feeding and kind of growing up until they get large enough to become part of the breeding population," Barron explained. "Every year, we see a certain number of greens that just didn't overwinter well and had kind of a rough winter, but this year, because of the unusually cold winter that we had and those couple of cold snaps, these guys were hit a lot harder than usual."
Barorn said many turtles come from Daytona Beach area that are suffering from cold stunning – when their body temperature drops to 50 degrees or below – or cold stress from the prolonged harsh conditions. Many arrived thin, with pneumonia, and covered in barnacles and algae that indicated they hadn't been swimming normally.
Resources stretched thin
The influx put tremendous pressure on the center's staff and budget. Technicians worked 15-hour days, arriving at 7 a.m. and staying until 11 p.m. The financial burden was equally significant, with feeding and medical care for dozens of sea turtles requiring substantial resources.
"In 2025, we actually saw over 25% of all live stranded sea turtles in the state of Florida," Barron noted.
Human threats year-round
Beyond weather-related injuries, Loggerhead Marinelife Center regularly treats turtles harmed by human activities. Fishing line entanglement and hook injuries are common, along with boat strikes that increase during nesting season from March through October.
The center runs several conservation initiatives to address these preventable injuries, such as the Responsible Pier Initiative, which educates anglers about proper procedures when accidentally catching sea turtles and provides monofilament recycling bins to prevent "ghost fishing."
Barron is also asking boaters to 'go slow for those below,' as many adult turtles will near the shoreline for breeding.
"We're very lucky to have one of the most densely nested beaches in North America; however, that also means we have a lot of very vulnerable adults out there, and we do see, unfortunately, a lot of hits by boats this time of year," Barron said.
High-tech treatment with high results
When injured turtles arrive, they receive comprehensive care using advanced diagnostics, including CAT scans, X-rays, ultrasound, and in-house blood work that can assess organ function from just a drop or two of blood.
"We can be very targeted in our treatment, which allows us to have that astonishingly high success rate," Barron said. The center successfully releases over 75% of its patients back into the wild."
What you can do
If you accidentally hook a sea turtle while fishing, Barron says it's important to never cut the line, because that can cause the turtle to get caught on something on the ocean's surface and drown.
"Ideally, you would either net it, or if you're on a very tall pier, you may have to walk it along until you get to the end of the pier and can pull it in from shore," Barron said.
Those who catch a turtle are advised to call FWC or Loggerhead, to walk through the next steps.
As sea turtle nesting season continues, Dr. Barron and her team remain vigilant. The center hopes to expand its "Go Slow for Those Below" program up and down the East Coast, working with partners like Gumbo Limbo Nature Center to spread awareness.
For more information about sea turtle conservation or to report an injured turtle, contact Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
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