Ocean Watch

Monday, April 21, 1997

Tumors cripple young
turtles here, in Florida

"I was diving in Kaneohe Bay recently and I saw a sea turtle with enormous tumors around its eyes," a diver told me last week. "The poor thing looked completely blind. Do they know what's causing this horrible disease?"

This is a common question both here and in Florida where half or more of the immature green turtles of some areas have tumors on their skin.

These ugly growths are heartbreaking to see because they so cruelly cripple these gentle creatures. Lumpy masses around the eyes often cause blindness; befouled flippers, necks and tails impede swimming. As the tumors grow, some reaching 10 inches across, the affected turtle can't get food. Gradually, the animal weakens and dies.

The answer to the divers' question -- what causes these tumors -- is not known. But that doesn't mean no one is working on the problem.

To get a better understanding of the disease, Hawaii researchers examined 222 tumored turtles found dead or dying between 1991 and 1995. Of those, 136 (61 percent) had tumors inside their mouths. Many of these oral tumors clearly hampered normal breathing and feeding in the turtles, likely contributing to their deaths.

In another study, researchers captured, examined and released 236 living turtles with tumors in Kaneohe Bay. Of these, 94 (40 percent) had mouth tumors.

In contrast, researchers have found no tumors in the mouths of affected Florida turtles, either living or dead.

No one knows why such a notable difference exists between the two populations. One guess is that perhaps marine parasites found in Hawaii but not Florida make tiny sores in the mouths of our turtles, setting them up for infection.

This new discovery doesn't provide solid answers to the turtle tumor problem, but it does give clues for further study.

In other turtle news, a traveling friend recently brought me an interesting brochure from a dive shop in Bali, Indonesia. There, thousands of sea turtles are killed yearly for food or sacrifice in religious ceremonies. The pamphlet, "Proyek Penyu" (The Turtle Project), explains what a local village is doing to help Bali's turtles.

In 1994, a local fisherman netted a sea turtle. To save its life, Chris Brown, who was opening a dive shop nearby, bought the weakened animal. During the day, Brown tied a rope to the turtle's neck and let it graze on the reef. In the evening, he brought it in to a small protected pond.

Soon Brown rescued another netted turtle. Guests and locals, taken with these creatures' plight, donated money for the turtles' care.

Brown built tanks for his turtles. Later, someone sold him some turtle eggs originally intended for eating. Brown learned how to hatch these rescued eggs, then fed the hatchlings fish for six months, giving the youngsters a head start.

And the Turtle Project was off and running.

Now, only a few years later, more than 800 turtles of several species have been released into the ocean from this effort. For a donation, which helps fund the project, you can set a turtle free, a thrilling experience, I'm sure.

But Brown's vision is broader than raising a few hatchlings for release. His aim is to encourage local protection of wild turtles and put a stop to (or at least diminish) their senseless slaughter.

A large part of the energy and money in this project, the brochure says, goes to educating the local people to conserve this precious living resource. Brown believes that seeing how much visitors love and support the turtles is a powerful statement in itself.

Sea turtles near and far are in trouble from disease and hunting. But people do care and are trying.

You can help Hawaii's sea turtles by reporting abuses or ill, stranded turtles to the National Marine Fisheries Service.