LOS ANGELES — In the 1950 movie “Harvey,” James Stewart befriends a 6-foot rabbit no one else can see. The invisible hare came to mind when my colleague Steven Banks described a sighting he had while kayaking at night in the waters off Marina del Rey.
“I see plenty of trash, I see tennis balls, I see paper bags and sippy cups. … I look down and think, ‘Oh, a plastic bag — with flippers. Flippers?’ I look again and about 4 feet under the water is a sea turtle. I just went past it and thought, ‘Wow.’ ”
Banks confirmed his sighting was no Harvey on Feb. 16 when he paddled near the same spot in Marina del Rey, this time during daylight hours, and saw a green turtle bobbing its head above the water, exhaling spurts of water and then ducking underneath his kayak. This time he caught the creature on video.
Endangered Eastern Pacific green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), which nest and mate on sandy beaches in central Mexico, have been showing up more and more in the waters of San Diego Bay, La Jolla Cove and Marina del Rey. A well-monitored colony has been thriving at the end of the San Gabriel River in the Long Beach-Seal Beach area since about 2008. Last week came reports of a sea turtle off Encinitas.
“While once rare, we have had a handful of dead (turtles) and alive sightings reported in the Santa Monica Bay area in the last few years,” said Justin Greenman of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
A 2021 research article by marine experts said turtles had “undergone substantial population recovery over the last two decades owing to holistic protection at nesting beaches and foraging areas. At the northern end of their range in Southern California … green turtles have been seen in more areas and in greater numbers since 2014 than before as a result.”
Why are these tropical creatures hanging out here? Mostly to forage and eat. NOAA and organizations like Heal the Bay work to keep the Southern California shoreline healthy. “What green sea turtles need is healthy near-shore habitat so they have something to feed on,” Greenman said. “They’re feeding on algae and sea grasses that need fairly shallow water to grow.” Also, the turtles born on Mexico beaches seem to like warm water released from California power plants — and stayed even after plants closed.
The biggest threat to the turtles in places like Marina del Rey is getting injured or killed after being hit by a boat. Boaters simply may not even be aware of them, Greenman said. Other turtles may get hooked or tangled in fishing lines.
Here’s the quirky thing about these sea turtles: They forage in California, but females return to Mexico to mate and lay their eggs in the sand. They also possess “natal homing,” which means they have an innate ability to find and return to their birthplace. And as for being green? That’s likely a layer of fat that has turned green because of their diet.
One of the more reliable places to see turtles from land is along the San Gabriel River Bike Trail, where it ends in Long Beach. You can see heads popping up in the shallow waters along the path. What should you do if you see one in the wild? Report it — and marvel at your good luck.
