An endangered leatherback sea turtle was found dead Friday morning in Christiansted Harbor, an apparent victim of a boat strike.
Zandy Hillis-Starr, a natural-resource manager with the National Park Service, said the female sea turtle, which weighed between 600 to 700 pounds and was about six feet long, was found floating just off the northern tip of Hotel on the Cay at about 11 a.m. Friday.
An inspection of the body showed a head wound and scratches on the shell, evidence that the reptile was struck by a vessel.
"It could be a prop, it could be the bottom of a boat," Hillis-Starr said. "She was probably hit outside Christiansted Harbor and then washed into it."
The dead leatherback, a member of a species that is very endangered in the Eastern Caribbean, was the first of the season on St. Croix, Hillis-Starr said. Leatherbacks nest between March and August at Sandy Point Beach, one of the largest of only 12 leatherback rookeries in the world. The rookery is part of a wildlife refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
While the female was tagged, Hillis-Starr said scientists wouldn’t be able to tell if she was a Sandy Point turtle until contact is made with FWS staff, who were off island Friday.
Leatherbacks spend the majority of their time in the North Atlantic, Hillis-Starr said. After about 15 years, females return to the beach where they were hatched to lay their eggs. After that, they return every two to three years to nest.
During a season, females lay eight to 10 clutches of about 80 to 100 eggs, Hillis-Starr said, of which about 50 percent to 60 percent actually hatch. But of that number, only about 1 percent actually survive.
Because of the daunting statistics, the discovery of the dead female on Friday was not good news for scientists.
"This animal has died after a migration of 5,000 to 8,000 miles," Hillis-Starr said. "Her only purpose here in St. Croix was to lay eggs."
Still, the success of the Sandy Point leatherback program is encouraging. The fruits of protecting the beach in the 1970s are just now being harvested. Hillis-Starr said that in 1997 and 1998, the number of females nesting jumped to 100.
"It’s a result of protecting the beach 15 to 20 years ago," she said.