50409 Entity Published / External 26881 Summary of sea turtle strandings documented by NOAA Galveston 1989-2015 Data Set Completed The NOAA Galveston Laboratory has been raising sea turtles continously in captivity since 1977. As the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network [STSSN] local represenatative for the upper Texas Gulf coast [coast is divided into 4 areas - upper, middle, Padre Island National Seashore and lower], we respond to sea turtle strandings, dead or alive. We document dead sea turtles, conduct a necropsy in an attempt to determine cause of death, collect biological samples if required, and dispose of the carcass. Live turtles are returned to the NOAA Galveston Laboratory where they are cared for in the sea turtle hospital. The NOAA Galveston Laboratory is not mandated to run a sea turtle hospital, but we do, because we have the capability to do so and there are no other local resources with the expertise to treat and house sick and injured sea turtles. Sea turtles receive medical attention from our attending veterinarians and The Houston Zoo, Inc., provides the bulk of those medical services free of charge. Once sea turtles are treated, recovered/rehabilitated and medically cleared, they are released either offshore or into Galveston Bay depending on the species, size and age of the turtle. We try to release sea turtles back into the wild where they would be normally found at that size and maturity. The Gulf of Mexico in Galveston seasonally supports healthy sea turtles from April to October. By November of each year, the coastal waters become too cold to support healthy sea turtles. Sea turtles that strand after October or that are still receiving treatment in October, are usually held over the winter and released the following spring. Occassionally, turtles that require holding over the winter are sent to The Houston Zoo, Inc., Moody Gardens, or Texas A&M University at Galveston for over-wintering. Record in real time sea turtle strandings on the upper Texas coast in 2009 Theme Caretta caretta Theme Chelonia mydas Theme Dermochelys coriacea Theme Eretmochelys imbricata Theme Kemp's ridley Theme Lepidochelys kempii Theme green turtle Theme hawksbill Theme leatherback Theme loggerhead Theme sea turtle Theme sea turtle stranding and salvage network Theme stranding Theme stssn Temporal 2009 Spatial Gulf of Mexico Spatial Texas Spreadsheet Yes The database contains records pertaining to all sea turtles recovered by the NOAA Galveston Laboratory as the local representative of the Southeast Fisheries Science Centers Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network STSSN. The data includes morphometrics at the time of stranding, species and condition of the sea turtle at the time of stranding and documentation of tags present. It also contains information on the geographic location of the stranding. 10 DATE Date 10 Yes No Active Date when sea turtle was reported stranded MM/DD/YYYY 20 EVENT CHARACTER 18 Yes No Active Means by which sea turtle came ashore 30 STRANDING_CODE CHARACTER 12 Yes Yes Active Unique code formed by the first letter of the responders first name, first letter of the responders middle name, first letter of the responders last name followed by the year, month, day and then the consecutive number of turtles recovered by that responder on that given day fist letter of the responders first name, first letter of the responders middle name, first letter of the responders last name followed by the year, month, day and then the consecutive number of turtles recovered by that responder on that given day 40 SPECIES CHARACTER 2 Yes No Active Two character species code of stranded sea turtle. cc CC=Loggerhead CM=Green DC=Leatherback EI = Hawksbill LK = Kemp’s Ridley LO = Olive Ridley UN = Unidentified For purposes of validation/species identification pay no attention to case when looking for allowed values and their meaning. 50 STRANDING_LOCATION CHARACTER 100 Yes No Active A description of the physical geographic location where the turtle was found 60 COUNTY CHARACTER 20 Yes No Active County or parrish in Texas in which sea turtle was recovered N/A Not Applicable 70 LATITUDE_DEGREES_MINUTES CHARACTER 16 Yes No Active Geographic position in which the sea turtle was recovered, latitude in degrees and minutes. Hemisphere value of N is included rather than an absolute value provided Degrees 29° 23.00' N ##° ##.##' N Degrees and minutes values should be a valid degrees and minutes value for latitude 80 LONGITUDE_DEGREES_MINUTES CHARACTER 16 Yes No Active Geographic position in which the sea turtle was recovered, longitude in degrees and minutes. Hemisphere value of W is included rather than an absolute value provided 97° 22.83' W ##° ##.##' W# Degrees and minutes values should be a valid degrees and minutes value for longitude 110 STRAIGHT_CARAPACE_LENGTH_CM CHARACTER 10 Yes No Active Usually the measurement of the sea turtles carapace length taken with calipers from the nuchal notch to the tip of the most posterior carapace scutes. It may also be curved carapace length. In cases where it is curved carapace length , CCL: will be part of the value in this field. A ~ character is also occasionally available as part of the Value CM CCL: 60.9 or 45.6 ###.# N/A Not Available 120 CONDITION CHARACTER 10 Yes No Active Health status at the time of recovery Alive Dead Alive/Died Must be one of the allowed values 130 SEA_TURTLE_STRANDING_AND_SALVAGE_NETWORK_CONDITION_CODE Character 3 Yes No Active A coded value from the Sea Turtle Stranding And Salvage Network ranking the state of decomposition or lack there of on a scale from 0-5. 0 , 0/1/ # or #/# 0 = Alive 1 = Fresh dead 2 = Moderately decomposed 3 = Severely decomposed 4 = Dried carcass 5 = Skeleton, bones only in addition there were a few cases where the value was difficult to determine so it was entered as #/# where each number is a possible value of above Must be an allowed value or the concatenation of them 140 ACTION CHARACTER 70 Yes No Active Response to report of sea turtle stranding 150 COMMENTS CHARACTER 2000 No No Active A physical description of the external and internal examination of the sea turtle 160 PARTS_COLLECTED Character 100 Yes No Active Mandatory Comment on the collection of parts from the stranded turtle 170 PARTS_SENT Character 3 Yes No Active Indicates if the collected parts were sent to a location other than the NMFS Galveston Facility Yes No 180 FISHERIES_INTERACTION Character 3 Yes No Active Indicates if some kind of Fisheries Interaction cause the stranding Yes No Data Steward 1989 Person Higgins, Benjamin ben.higgins@noaa.gov 4700 Avenue U Galveston TX 77551 409-766-3670 Contact by email preferred. Distributor 2017-02 Organization NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information NCEI ncei.info@noaa.gov https://ror.org/04r0wrp59 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact NCEI Contact Information Information for contacts at NCEI. Online Resource Metadata Contact 1989 Person Higgins, Benjamin ben.higgins@noaa.gov 4700 Avenue U Galveston TX 77551 409-766-3670 Contact by email preferred. Point of Contact 2016 Person Baumer, Tim J tim.baumer@noaa.gov 4700 Avenue U Galveston TX 77551 409-766-3784 Contact by email preferred. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0159757/1.1/data/0-data/26881/CSV/STRANDINGS2009/Renamed_Data_Table.csv 2017-02 Organization NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information https://ror.org/04r0wrp59 Renamed_Data_Table.csv Renamed 2009 Texas Turtle Strandings File csv (comma-separated values) CSV - Comma Separated Values (Text) Uncompressed gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:50409 Lee Weinberger 2017-11-28T01:40:59 SysAdmin InPortAdmin 2026-03-04T19:17:17 2021-04-29 Southeast Fisheries Science Center SEFSC 75 Virginia Beach Drive Miami FL 33149 USA (305)361-5761 www.sefsc.noaa.gov 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST 1001 Public No 2021-04-29 1 Year 2022-04-29