Appeal to public as warm-water turtles end up on Irish shoreline

An Irish expert on turtles has appealed to the public for assistance in monitoring the movements of warm-water loggerhead turtles after four of the species have been found dead on the Irish coast in the past month.

Loggerhead turtles are usually found in the warm waters of the Caribbean or Mediterranean or farther south in the Atlantic near the Azores, says Dr Tom Doyle of the Coastal and Marine Resources Centre attached to University College Cork.

But four of the species, which can grow up to a metre in length and 150 kilos in weight, have been washed ashore along the south coast between Wexford and Kerry in the past month while a further two have been washed ashore in Scotland.

"Loggerhead turtles are not normally found in Irish waters because the water temperatures are far too cold," said Dr Doyle, adding that most Atlantic turtles breed on the beaches of Florida and cross the Atlantic via the North Atlantic Gyre, and return via the North Equatorial Current.

"It's been established that it can take loggerheads two to three years to complete this loop but sometimes they can get carried further north and finding four off the Irish coast in the space of one month, while it's not unique, is certainly unusual," he said

One of the loggerheads was washed up on Ballyhealy Beach near Kilmore Quay in Wexford, a second was found on Hare Island off Skibbereen in West Cork, a third was found on Inny Strand in Ballinskelligs Bay in South Kerry while the fourth was washed up on the Dingle Peninsula.

"Unfortunately all four were dead . . . we will carry out postmortems to try and establish their age, sex and exact origin," said Dr Doyle. "But we're very anxious to hear from anyone who might come across a loggerhead to contact us."

Anyone who finds a loggerhead turtle or any other turtle is asked to contact any of the aquariums along the southwest such as Dingle Oceanworld or Lahinch Seaworld or Dr Tom Doyle directly at t.doyle@ucc.ie or via www.irishturtle.ie