Grant: 25-009C
Project Title: Expanding Capacity for Sea Turtle Rehabilitation in Northeast Florida
Project Manager: Catherine Eastman
Organization: University of Florida - Whitney Laboratory (Research and Educational Institute)
Grant Amount: $40,000.00
Completion Date:
Summary: The Sea Turtle Research and Rehabilitation Hospital at the University of Florida's (UF) Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience is expanding it's rehabilitation efforts of the UF Sea Turtle Hospital through the purchase of two additional tanks for housing patients at the hospital while they undergo treatment and rehabilitation. Located on the border of St. Johns and Flagler Counties, the hospital is Florida’s northernmost fibropapillomatosis (FP) facility and has become a vital institution since its inception in 2015. The Sea Turtle Hospital currently houses patients in four 1,200-gallon, circular custom-made fiberglass tanks, each 6 feet in diameter and 3 feet high. The tanks operate with flow-through ocean water systems and cartridge filtration systems consisting of RK2 protein skimmers, biological towers, and ozone injection. The tank temperatures are maintained between 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Each tank has the capacity for two juvenile turtles, providing space for 8 juvenile patients or up to 300 hatchlings. Dramatic increases in sea turtle strandings in recent years means the hospital's current capacity is regularly exceeded. To continue to care for, rehabilitate and release Florida's sea turtles, the hospital urgently needs to expand our patient capacity. This project supports a strategic plan to expand capacity through the acquisition of two 8-foot diameter fiberglass tanks, with bead filters, UV sterilization, protein skimmer (foam fractionation) and all associated filtration and life support equipment. A new state-of-the-art building Whitney Marine Research Laboratory and Sea Turtle Hospital building is due for completion in 2025, and includes space for additional tanks, providing an ideal opportunity for this expansion project. The new facility will increase our capacity and increase the tank space necessary to facilitate quarantine systems, as no water is shared between tanks. It is critical for our facility to expand its capacity to ensure that these severely debilitated patients receive the quality of care that they need to survive and enable the hospital to respond to the increasing numbers of hatchlings and post-hatchling washbacks being admitted.
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