Legislation that would help sea turtles that are injured or stunned by cold temperatures is stuck in a Senate committee/NPS photo of sea turtles stunned by a 2021 cold snap in Texas

Legislation that would underwrite grants for the rescue, resusicitation, rehabilitation, and release of sea turtles is languishing in the U.S. Senate with the clock running down on the current session of Congress.

Introduced by U.S. Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, the measure would provide $5 million a year through Fiscal 2030 for grants that would support projects to rescue, resuscitate, rehabilitate, and release sea turtles back into the oceans. 

Six sea turtle species — loggerhead, Kemp's ridley, green, hawksbill, leatherback, and olive ridley —are found in U.S. waters, and all are listed and protected under the Endangered Species Act. A variety of issues could require the rescue of sea turtles. Among them are "cold stunning," in which cold waters weaken turtles and leave them inactive; injuries related to bycatch; boat strikes; and exposure to oil spills.

Back in July when the Senate's Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee unanimously passed the measure Sen. Markey said that, “[A]s sea turtles face extinction and environmental wipeout, this bipartisan legislation provides a crucial lifeline to the guardians championing rescue and rehabilitation programs. Our current rescue efforts are largely volunteer and underfunded, forcing our aquariums to shell out to keep our shelled friends safe. After years of trying to get this new grant program across the finish line, this bipartisan legislation demonstrates that slow and steady can still win the race. We will not let these rescue and rehabilitation organizations, much less sea turtles, sink.”

According to the senator's staff, 49 sea turtles were stranded and found on the beaches of Cape Cod in 2000; by 2022 that number had skyrocketed to 866. 

In August the Democrat left his office to head out to Cape Cod to participate in the release of five turtles — four Kemp's ridley and one loggerhead — that had been rescued and rehabilitated at the New England Aquariums Sea Turtle Hospital. The turtles were treated for "hypothermia-related conditions including pneumonia, dehydration, and emaciation, all results of being unable to regulate their body temperature in the cold waters of Cape Cod Bay last fall and winter," said a release from the aquarium.

What the measure doesn't specifically require, though, is that the turtles be marked, tagged and tracked when they are released. Proponents of such a requirement say it is needed so it can be determined whether released sea turtles, specifically Kemp's ridley, help the species' population rebound.