main reason is for concern about where the turtles end up. the past several years, the turtles we have satellite tagged have hugged the coast heading south and end up in long island sound. the animals tend to stay in the sound longer than we would like, making us nervous they will not enter the atlantic until the water is too cold and lead to another cold stunning event. we are hoping that taking them off shore for release will help them to bypass the opening to long island sound as they head south.
it is amazing to see the difference between when a turtle arrives and when it is released. 