The Olive Ridley sea turtle that washed ashore on Sunset Beach in Clatsop County, Ore., was one of two sea turtles found on the Oregon Coast in the final days of 2024.
Photo courtesy of Dawning McGinnis / Dawning’s Art
Two sea turtles washed up along Oregon’s beaches in the final days of 2024 due to hypothermic shock, bringing the number of sea turtles that appeared on the state’s shores last year to 17.
That’s the highest number of sea turtle strandings the state has seen in any given year, and twice what the state has recorded in previous years.
“It’s a seasonal thing,” said Jim Rice, program manager at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Stranding Network. “During the winter months, in particular, we tend to see sea turtles succumbing to hypothermia.”
During warmer seasons, different sea turtle species forage hundreds of miles off the West Coast. When temperatures decrease, these turtles typically migrate to warmer waters farther south. If they don’t move in time, colder ocean temperatures can force their bodies into a hibernation state.
Although they might appear to be dead, turtles that wash up on the beach might simply be in a cold shock — though the two found last week did not survive.
“They’re cold-blooded, so they’re able to survive for a really, really long time,” said Jim Burke, director of animal care at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. “But they’re very much victims of the waves and the currents, and eventually they get pushed onto the beach.”
The most recent turtle showed up on Sunset Beach in Clatsop County around Dec. 30. In a post on social media, staff with the Sunset Aquarium said the 40-pound Olive Ridley sea turtle was found dead.
A few days earlier, a Loggerhead sea turtle washed up on Short Beach in Tillamook County. Oregon State Police were able to transfer the turtle to the Oregon Coast Aquarium’s rehabilitation center, but Burke said it didn’t survive.
The 40-pound Olive Ridley sea turtle that washed ashore was found dead on Sunset Beach in Clatsop County around Dec. 30, 2024.
Photo courtesy of Tiffany Boothe of the Seaside Aquarium
In a post on social media, staff with the Seaside Aquarium said the most recent strandings were likely due to a storm system moving up from the south. Winds can drive warm water currents — and foraging sea turtles — farther north and closer to shore than normal, the staff wrote. When the weather suddenly changes and temperatures drop, the turtles are then left stranded in cold water.
A similar phenomenon is happening on the East Coast, where hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles can wash ashore in a matter of days. Researchers there have tied the occurrence to climate change.
Rice and Burke aren’t sure why there were a high number of sea turtle strandings in Oregon last year, or why the phenomenon appears to be happening more frequently in the last two decades.
“It’s hard to speculate about the ocean conditions because it’s such a dynamic place,” Burke said.
Oregon usually sees three kinds of turtles — Olive Ridley, Loggerhead and green turtles — and all are federally listed as either threatened or endangered species.
Rice said the increase in strandings could indicate that their populations are increasing. Burke said there could simply be more people documenting and reporting sea turtles strandings with smartphones, compared to previous decades.
People who find sea turtles stranded on a beach can report them to the Oregon State Police at 800-452-7888, or call a federal hotline at 866-767-6114, which is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries office.
“Do not touch the turtle, and certainly do not put it back into the water,” Rice said. “If you put a live turtle that you see on the beach back into the ocean, it’s most likely just going to suffer longer and it’s not going to survive out there.”