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 ( NASA/Kim Shiflett) A newly-hatched turtle emerges from endangered sea turtle eggs brought from beaches along the northern U.S. Gulf Coast. The hatchlings are ready to be released into the Atlantic Ocean off NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The release and relocation work is part of an effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the National Park Service, NOAA, FedEx and conservationists to help minimize the risk to this year’s sea turtle hatchlings from impacts of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This plan involves carefully moving an anticipated 700 nests deposited on Florida Panhandle and Alabama beaches during the next several months. Note: The photo was shot using a red filter to protect the hatchlings.
NASA Supporting Gulf Oil Spill Wildlife Recovery
JULY 15, 2010NASA NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is helping with the unprecedented effort to save wildlife from the effects of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The first group of hatchlings from endangered sea turtle eggs brought from beaches along the northern U.S. Gulf Coast was released into the Atlantic Ocean off Kennedy’s central Florida coast on July 11. Twenty-two Kemp’s ridley turtles were set free on a Kennedy Space Center beach, which is part of the Canaveral National Seashore. After being collected on June 26, the Kemp’s ridley nest from Walton County, Fla., was packed in a Styrofoam box with sand and transported by a specially-equipped FexEx truck to a secure, climate-controlled facility at Kennedy where it was monitored until incubation was complete. Most of the nests that will be collected are from loggerhead turtles, but nests from leatherback and green turtles, in addition to Kemp’s ridley, may be brought to the Kennedy hatchery. Video of the hatchery at Kennedy, the nest and release of the first group of hatchlings is airing on NASA Television’s Video File segment: www.nasa.gov/ntv
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