Sea Turtle Sighting Hotline

for Southern New England Boaters

1-888-SEA-TURT (1-888-732-8878) • Report Online

A Sea Turtle Sighting Hotline for Southern New England Boaters is part of the ongoing sea turtle program at Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. The two primary goals of the hotline are: (1) to document where and when sea turtles are seen in southern New England waters, and (2) to alert boaters that sea turtles are present in the summer and fall, in hopes that boaters will both report sightings and make efforts to avoid striking the turtles. Boaters and fishermen have become important eyes on the water for reporting sea turtles, and their reports are helping researchers know where the turtles are concentrated and when they arrive and depart in any given year, indicating trends in habitat use. The hotline data points do not represent a systematic survey, nor do they represent an accurate count of sea turtles, because multiple calls may report the same turtle.

A recorded message on the toll-free hotline first requests that if the caller is reporting an entangled or injured sea turtle in need of immediate assistance he/she should call 800-900-3622, the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies’ Disentanglement Hotline. Otherwise, the caller is asked to provide the following information about the sea turtle sighting: date, time, location, approximate size and other physical characteristics, and any additional comments. Also, if the caller leaves a return phone number he/she will promptly receive a return call. Many callers request to be called back, often to ask questions about sea turtles and to discuss their sighting.