DATE: Tuesday, June 17, 1997                TAG: 9706170280

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   63 lines

CHILLY WEATHER TAKES TOLL ON TURTLES, BABY DOLPHINS STRANDINGS ARE AT RECORD LEVELS FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR.

The windy, unseasonably cool spring weather has not been kind to dolphins or sea turtles.

Record numbers of both species have washed up dead along the coastline, particularly near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, the Virginia Marine Science Museum's Stranding Team reported Monday.

The latest was a scarred and barnacled loggerhead turtle brought in Monday morning after coming ashore at Norfolk's Ocean View.

It isn't clear whether the chill has been killing the animals or simply causing them to wash ashore after they died for other reasons, team officials said.

But one theory is that the young dolphins and turtles were too weak to survive the stormy seas and cold weather of late May and early June.

``This is tough for these guys,'' Stranding Team Director Mark Swingle said of the turtles. ``Unless they get into the Bay with enough energy to feed actively, it can be stressful for them.''

Fifteen dolphins and more than 40 sea turtles, including four endangered Kemp's ridley turtles, have washed up dead along the shoreline. Those are record numbers for this time of year.

The Stranding Team includes Marine Science staff and about 150 volunteers who help with both live and dead strandings.

Loggerheads, so named because of their large, blocky heads, are a threatened species. They migrate hundreds of miles to the Bay, where they feed and grow to maturity.

The loggerhead found this weekend at Ocean View was covered with tiny barnacles and had an unusually large dented area on its back. That could have been caused by an encounter with a boat, or it could have been a birth deformity.

It was only 80 pounds - adults reach 350 pounds or more - and probably 6 to 10 years old. It was probably a female, although, with young turtles, there are not many external clues, Swingle said.

But what the team did learn was where it came from.

Because it was tagged on a back flipper, the team put in a call to the National Marine Fisheries Service. And Monday afternoon, a call came back from a fisheries researcher in North Carolina.

The turtle had been caught in a pound net last November behind Ocracoke Island, N.C. It was then tagged and released. Between then and now, it made its way up the coast to feed in the Chesapeake.

Among the dolphins, 14 strandings have occurred since May 27, and nine of those have been neonates, or infants in the first month of their lives.

Dolphins have recently returned to Virginia waters, including one of their favorite spots at the mouth of the Chesapeake, where food is prevalent. Many are near-term females.

Some apparently gave birth during the two weeks when persistent northeast winds generated high seas. Immediately after birth, newborn dolphins must learn to swim and breathe.

But their lives were very short, some neonates possibly never rising to take a breath. ``They could have died during birth,'' Swingle said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

CHARLIE MEADS/The Virginian-Pilot

Andi Poe and Mark Swingle examine a dead loggerhead found Monday in

Virginia Beach. Poe is a research technician for the marine science

museum's stranding team; Swingle is its director.

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