Galveston Sea Turtles
In Galveston, TX, NOAA runs a lab where they raise sea turtles in a protected environment. I visited the lab in November 2004, and I can’t say enough good things about it.
NOAA raises baby loggerhead sea turtles to give them a better chance at succeeding in areas outside their normal habitats, like in Florida. At any given time, you can see turtles the size of a silver dollar up to 40-50 pounds. These turtles live to be 80-100 years old, and a couple/few hundred pounds, but of course there’s no such examples in the lab because the turtles are all released by age 3-4.
The lab helps develop standards for turtle-proof fish baits and nets, and tests them with the 3-4 year old turtles. At first the bait testing sounded a little harsh to me, but as the guide explained it, I understood that it saved tons of turtles in the wild. I’m all for that.
Having owned a couple of red sliders, I wondered how they filtered the water. (These little turtles eat a lot, but they poop even more.) Turns out the turtles are kept in huge vats of sea water piped in fresh daily from the Gulf - all of the water is switched out every single day. That’s one way to solve the problem, I guess, and very admirable.
The guide explains all about sea turtles and their life cycle, answers questions, and holds up a sea turtle for people to touch its shell and legs. Visitors can’t pick up sea turtles out of the aquariums, of course, no matter how adorable they may appear. And the turtles all but ask to be picked up - they swim right up to you and paddle like crazy trying to get out of the water and climb up your leg. Clearly they associate people with food.
I have a photo gallery from the trip.
The lab offers free tours daily at set times. Anyone who’s interested in sea turtles and lives in South Texas should go - it’s educational, the turtles are adorable, and the only thing missing is a gift shop. Here’s more information about the lab.
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