NOAA to Release 141 Sea Turtles Off Florida Coast

About 140 loggerhead sea turtles will be released back into the ocean.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation will release 141 loggerhead sea turtles off the Florida coast Monday.

Of the 141 turtles, 28 3-year-old turtles will be released into the Sebastian Inlet, and 113 2-year-old turtles will be released from a U.S. Coast Guard ship offshore, according to NOAA.

The turtles were collected by NOAA as hatchlings from the same area they will be released.

They were used for an annual turtle excluder device testing in Panama City, NOAA said.

Certain shrimp trawlers are required to have turtle excluder devices because sometimes their nets catch turtles in addition to shrimp. The nets stay underwater longer than turtles can be submerged. These devices allow turtles to quickly swim out of the nets, NOAA said.

Once the testing is done, the turtles get released back into their original habitat.

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