This season, the Stranding Team of three people on Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island who have permits to respond to sea turtles that wash ashore has written 20 stranding reports for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. We expect to do more in the fall and winter.
This can be a sad and sometimes gruesome task involving mostly dead sea turtles. But on July 25, we met a special turtle who was later named Chili at the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center. This year, their patients are named for different condiments, and this name would prove to be appropriate.
Kemps ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) are the smallest of all sea turtles, with adults usually measuring 23-28 inches in shell length and weighing up to 110 pounds. Chili was not yet adult size but was almost 2 feet long, larger than the usual half-dozen or so Kemps ridleys that we handle each year that are only about a foot long.
These turtles nest mostly at Rancho Nuevo on the east coast of Mexico and along the Gulf Coast of Texas. But juveniles regularly travel up and down the East Coast as far as New England. They are the most endangered of all sea turtles after decades of habitat loss and poaching. They are easy prey because they nest in large groups during daylight hours. They get their name from Richard Kemp, a fisherman who found one in 1880 and sent the specimen to Harvard University when the species was relatively unknown.
On July 25, we got the call from SCDNR that a fisherman on the Low Battery section of downtown Charleston had caught one on his line. Fortunately, he knew not to try to pull it up by the hook but instead helped it wash near the U.S. Coast Guard Station at Tradd Street, where he could get a landing net under it to lift it, avoiding further injury.
While we were en route, he moved it to the shade in someone’s yard on the Battery and poured water on it to avoid heat stress and dehydration. Another thing he did right was not cutting the fishing line close to the turtle’s mouth, where the hook was embedded in the lower jaw. He left about a foot of line to make hook removal less difficult at the hospital. Kemps ridleys are well-known for biting on fishhooks from piers and in the surf. We used duct tape to secure the fishing line to the upper shell.
We were impressed with how beautiful and healthy this young turtle was — free of barnacles and algae. It appeared to be a subadult in excellent health. When we lifted it into the carrier box, it was very strong and very feisty. The staff at the Aquarium called it “bright, alert and responsive.” Bloodwork confirmed that there were no other health problems. Chili would thrash and wave all four flippers wildly when picked up — a very spicy Chili indeed!
The hook was removed easily by Aquarium staff without surgery. Chili spent several more weeks at the hospital to completely recover from the hook wound. During this time, the staff said Chili was the “pickiest eater they were caring for,” eating only shrimp and squid and eating better if the squid was offered first.
Then, on Aug. 26, we heard from Melissa Ranly, manager of the hospital, that Chili was released into the Gulf Stream. True to form, Chili was thrashing like crazy and pooped and peed on the folks doing the handling!
Godspeed, Chili. We hope you have a long and healthy life!
Strandings in 2026 for Island Turtle Team
The Island Turtle Team has responded to 20 strandings so far this year. All but five of the turtles died from boat strikes. Five were found alive and taken to the hospital.
The strandings included:
- 5 loggerheads
- 3 leatherbacks
- 9 green sea turtles
- 3 Kemps ridleys