'Extreme Cold' Responsible For Deaths of 173 Sea Turtles

173 sea turtles died off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, this week because of the extreme cold, according to Mass Audubon Director Bob Prescott.

RELATED:

300 Endangered Sea Turtles Found Dead Off Mexican Coast

Prescott attributed the deaths of the turtles on global warming, telling CNN, "The Gulf of Maine prior to 2010 was too cold for sea turtles to come into." 

Out of the 227 turtles recovered from the Gulf of Maine since Wednesday, only 54 survived due to the freezing temperatures.

"This was way too cold," Prescott said. "Everything was slushy by yesterday morning. Some of them are small. It didn't take long for them to freeze."

Generally, sea turtles migrate between areas where they can find food and areas where they can give birth, which are usually warmer waters, according to SEE Turtles, a conservation tourism project that aims to protect sea turtles.

“Climate change is impacting sea turtles very clearly,” Wallace J. Nichols, a research associate at California Academy of Sciences and sea turtle biologist, told NBC News.

A report released Friday from 13 federal agencies suggested evidence of human-caused climate change is strengthening, and therefore resulting in rising sea levels and infrastructure damage.