JUNO BEACH, Fla. – The only sea turtles that visitors to Loggerhead Marinelife Center will see right now are those whose images are printed on T-shirts in the gift shop.
The big turtle tanks at the center on U.S. 1 in Juno Beach have been empty since early April because Loggerhead is facing issues with its water quality that have disqualified it from hosting and rehabilitating sea turtles – its signature activity since it opened in 1983.
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The center’s problems go beyond the tanks that are supposed to hold the green and loggerhead sea turtles that nest on northern Palm Beach County’s beaches. The popular destination also has seen the deaths of three turtles and a run of departures from staff members following the expansion of its campus and the arrival of a new chief executive, Kyle Van Houtan.
More than a dozen people either have resigned or have notified the center they will be leaving shortly due to mismanagement and concern for the reptile patients, according to six current and former employees who spoke with The Palm Beach Post.
Some of the center’s marine turtle permits from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission – which allow it to rehabilitate the animals – hang in the balance as the people named on the permits leave, taking their expertise with them.
What remains is a CEO scrambling to get out ahead of rumors, local leaders wary of sending any more taxpayer money to the center, visitors let down by the absence of sea turtles and a $26 million newly renovated center missing its star patients.
“I understand there’s been a lot of change around here, and we understand there has been a lot of concern,” Van Houtan said. “We’re going to come out of this stronger.”
On Wednesday, Loggerhead placed a full-page ad in The Palm Beach Post’s print edition, thanking its donors, staff members and volunteers amid what the board of directors called the center’s “significant growth pains.”
Loggerhead’s problems began last July as salinity levels in sea turtle care tanks dropped and began to fluctuate.
While the ocean’s salinity is around 35 parts per thousand, FWC requires that sea turtle tanks range in salinity from 20 to 40 parts per thousand. According to Van Houtan and staff members who were monitoring water salinity, the amount of salt in the water being brought into Loggerhead was hovering in the upper 20s and low 30s.
Staff members grew concerned about the low salinity and the fluctuation of salt levels in the tanks, and alerted FWC. Permit holders are required to report issues that affect animal welfare within 24 hours of discovering them.
Since sea turtles naturally live in the ocean, too little salt in the water can cause them to retain more water and exacerbate health conditions such as anemia. Changing levels threaten the animals’ stability as they are rehabilitated, according to FWC and Loggerhead staff members.
Van Houtan told The Post the center determined the changes in salinity were caused by a contractor error and runoff water entering Loggerhead’s intake pump system.
In an official statement, he tied the salinity issues to a nearby beach renourishment project just north of Donald Ross Road that took place in January 2021.
While the whole system is underground, staff members believe the renourishment project added sand to the beach around the intake pump and resulted in less ocean water and more runoff entering the tanks.
“While the pipes are stationary and haven’t moved, the beach renourishment has moved the ocean farther from the pipes,” Van Houtan said. “When you add 100 linear feet to the beach, you push the ocean farther away. ... Our pumps (are) working harder to get that ocean water and even pulling in some fresh water.”
Loggerhead staff members told The Post that fresh water included rain water and runoff from the street above – as salinity dropped more drastically after large rain storms.
Fluctuating salinity resulted in widespread issues in the water system at Loggerhead, and the staff members who spoke with The Post said it led to the death of three sea turtle hatchlings at the center in October.
New patients were barred from entering the facility in mid-October, but FWC granted limited admissions in early January. Through February, several sea turtles were successfully rehabilitated and released, Van Houtan said in a written statement released Tuesday.
But on April 8, the staff observed tiny air bubbles in seawater inflows. Bubbles can be harmful to sea turtles, especially small turtles, because they can enter their bloodstreams and cause decompression sickness, similar to “the bends” that scuba divers can face when pressure changes too quickly around them.
As a result of the air bubbles, FWC removed all sea turtles from the center’s care and relocated them. The nearest sea turtle rehabilitation program is about 40 miles to the south at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton.
More than a dozen staffers resign from Loggerhead
Staff members who have left the center paint a picture of poor communication, concerns about their patients’ well-being and mismanagement by Van Houtan, who started as the chief executive last July.
Prior to joining Loggerhead, Van Houtan was the chief scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. Previously, he was the marine turtle assessment program leader for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He holds a doctorate degree in ecology and environmental ethics from Duke University.
But his communication style may have contributed to resignations by outgoing Loggerhead staff members and is the basis of at least one lawsuit.
In late March, the center’s former marketing director sued Loggerhead, accusing Van Houtan and the center’s management of misleading her and the public about the water-quality issues in the tanks.
Marilu Flores was hired in November 2021 after the start of the water quality concerns. She said she would have never taken the job had she known the issues at the center.
In the lawsuit, Flores called the experience a “nightmare” and detailed attempts by Van Houtan to cover up water quality issues, such as hiring a crisis management firm and directing staff members “not to tell anyone” about the center’s problems.
Now the mass resignations have put the center’s permits at risk.
FWC issues permits to “qualified individuals” to handle sea turtles instead of institutions, and staff members say at least 20 full-time employees have resigned or are in the process of resigning their positions. Loggerhead’s website lists 32 staff members.
Van Houtan said he’s aware of 14 staff members who have resigned since he took the reins.
Loggerhead has 30 days to hire new “qualified individuals” who can hold the permits, or the center is at risk of losing them and its abilities to host and rehabilitate turtles.
Staff members who spoke with The Post say they were “cut out” by Van Houtan for bringing their concerns about management to human resources. Others said he prevented them from getting raises, awards for their work and grants for new projects.
They’ve launched a petition online calling for Van Houtan’s resignation. Nearly 300 people have signed.
“During his tenure, staff has been belittled and ridiculed, excluded and misled,” the petition says. “Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s reputation, in the community and amongst its peers — locally and globally — has hit rock bottom.”
Van Houtan said he has held town halls with the scientists, education coordinators and volunteers at the center to identify and address issues.
“Several members of LMC’s staff and volunteer base have resigned over the past few weeks due to disagreement with our direction,” he wrote in a statement. “We understand change does not come easily, and we are working to improve the situation by increasing communication and accepting more input from our stakeholders.”
Van Houtan told The Post the center’s core mission remains rehabilitating sea turtles, educating the public on ocean conservation and generating revenue to keep the mission afloat.
But staffers pointed to new fish tanks and revenue-generating event space as signs that Loggerhead is morphing into an aquarium instead of a sea-turtle hospital.
Town leaders withhold taxpayer money from center citing concerns
Concerns about Loggerhead’s operations have rippled through the community, worrying visitors and nearby town leaders about its future.
While volunteers said spring break was a busy week, there were just a handful of visitors at the center Tuesday morning.
Parents and children wandered through the maze of 26 empty turtle rehabilitation tanks, passed fish tanks filled only with water and interacted with virtual aquariums projected onto the wall in the newly expanded center.
On Tuesday, Jupiter’s Town Council opted not to award Loggerhead any money in its charitable donation program, citing concerns about water quality and staffing. This year was the first year Loggerhead applied for the donation program, according to town records.
Although the center is in Juno Beach, it requested $7,500 for its Oceans of Opportunity program, an education effort for “disadvantaged Jupiter residents,” according to its application. The center’s annual revenue tops $9 million, according to its most recent tax documents.
The town of Juno Beach, the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County and the Palm Beach County Board of Commissioners are members of the center’s “Circle of 100,” a group comprised from donors who give $5,000 or more per year to Loggerhead.
Jupiter was the first north county municipality to discuss denying funding to Loggerhead.
Town council member Ron Delaney said Tuesday that he brought family to the center recently while they were visiting. He called the visit “a big thud,” because there were no sea turtles.
“There was nothing there,” he said of the new turtle tanks.