SandyHook SeaLife Foundation™

Highlands, NJ 07732
United States
ph: 609.953.2677

news at SSF

              projects - what's new with us

photo credits - Catherine Armbruster

Sails for Haiti 

Survivors of the recent earthquake in Haiti now face a 3 month rainy season; thousands of victims have no shelter. From March 7 - 21, SSF is reaching out to sailing schools, yacht clubs and boaters along the Jersey shore, asking them to donate old, used sails to be sent to Haiti for temporary housing. Please contact us for information on how to contribute. 

SHSLFoundation@aol.com

 

 

 

Celebrating the

International Year of the Seafarer - 2010

 NEW BOOK  COMING SOON

The Swordfish Hunters - Thomas Armbruster, MD 

A personal account, an emotional snapshot of the danger, the fatigue and the exhilaration of the hunt for giant fish over the deepest canyons of the North Atlantic. 

 

Sea Turtle Rescue Program

Charleston, SC   September 2009

Dr. Armbruster and several members of SandyHook SeaLife Foundation recently worked with veterinarian Dr. Shane Boylan and Kelly Thorvalson, senior biologist and Sea Turtle Rescue Program coordinator at the South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston. 
Sea Turtle Rescue began in 2000 and the aquarium established the sea turtle hospital in 2005 with a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.  The aquarium specializes in treating stranded, sick and injured sea turtles at their state-of-the-art turtle hospital. Since 2003, at least 39 rehabilitated sea turtles have been released back to the sea.  
Several types of sea turtles, including Loggerhead, Kemps Ridley and Green sea are currently hospitalized, the most notable being a 125 lb quiet Loggerhead named "Pirate." She was the unfortunate victim of a natural neurotoxin known as "red tide." Paralyzed and unable to feed or open her mouth (pictured), she was found starving to death by a group of local beach-goers. 

 
Staff Veterinarian Shane Boylan, Dr. Armbruster and Kelly Thorvalson, program director, discuss Pirate's prognosis.
  

 
After a thirty-minute ordeal to pry open Pirate's mouth for a tube feeding, we turned our attention to a feisty 25 lb Kemps Ridley turtle for an xray on a fractured limb. Hospitalized sea turtles receive IV fluids, antibiotics, vitamins, ultrasounds, endoscopies and medication for a variety of problems including infections, shock from exposure to cold temperatures and wounds from boat strikes or sharks. 
 

 
SSF wishes to thank Dr. Boylan, Kelly Thorvalson, Elizabeth Bender and the entire staff at the South Carolina Aquarium who are dedicated to the preservation of South Carolina's oceanlife. 
Donations are appreciated and SHSF strongly supports the Adopt a Turtle Program.
The experience left us even more determined to protect these animals as all sea turtles are on the threatened or endangered list and need our help if they are to survive for the next 50 years.

 

For updates on Pirate and all the turtles at the South Carolina Aquarium or to make a much-needed donation:

http://scaquarium.org 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Blue Frontier Campaign

BLUE VISION SUMMIT   Washington DC     March 2009

 

Philippe Cousteau, son of Jan and Philippe Cousteau Sr., and the grandson of Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, discusses environmental goals of EarthEcho International http://www.earthecho.org with members of SandyHook SeaLife Foundation - Catherine Armbruster, Mary Hamilton and Thomas Armbruster, MD


Roz Savage, solo ocean rower and environmentalist, with Dr. Armbruster at the Smithsonian's Ocean Hall exhibit.

http://www.rozsavage.com

For more photographs and complete coverage of BlueVisionSummit visit:

http://www.bluefront.org/news/  

Caribbean Reef shark dive

November 2008

    The SSF team recently returned from Carribean Reef shark diving off Freeport, Bahamas. The dive team was lead by SSF founder Thomas Armbruster, west coast board member Kyle Murdoch and an expert dive crew native to the area. The main dive sites were located two miles NNW from Bell Channel Inlet and included both deepwater wrecks (Theo's wreck and Seastar wreck at one-hundred feet) as well as several shallower reef dives in the sixty foot depths. Multiple Reef sharks were  encountered, ranging from six to seven feet in length. The high number and visible health of the sharks was encouraging, as was the state of the coral reefs, which appeared vibrant and free of bleaching.

     SSF strongly encourages all active divers to participate in Project Aware, designed to assess the declining state of worldwide coral reefs. Go to: www.projectaware.org

 

 

       

Thomas Armbruster, MD   President & Founder    

 

 

  Office Contact:  Mary M. Hamilton, Executive Director

SandyHook SeaLife Foundation   326 Stokes Rd.  #372  Medford, NJ 08055

Phone: 609.953.2677   E-mail: SHSLFoundation@aol.com

                             

Marine Conservation through Education, Volunteerism,  Political Action 

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Highlands, NJ 07732
United States
ph: 609.953.2677