Tracking the Leatherback Sea Turtle

Eckert, Scott

With this project we proposed to determine the movement patterns of the Sandy Point turtles during the internesting interval. It is important to understand whether the turtles are residing near areas of intense fishing effort if we are to predict adverse interactions, and propose concrete mitigation actions. We are confident that we understand the dive behavior, but have not attempted to identify where the turtles were during this time. Thus, this project proposed to radio-track the female leatherbacks during their internesting intervals. The methods are similar to a project we carried in the South China Sea near the Terengganu (Rantau Abang) leatherback nesting beach for the government of Malaysia (Chan et al. 1989). In that case our results led to the establishment of a Marine Reserve to protect the female leatherbacks and has been extremely successful. Another part of this study monitored on swim speeds of the leatherback. We were interested in utilizing this information to help us clarify some features we noted in earlier studies of diving. Specifically, we wondered if the long surface periods at midday represent surface resting -with the turtles remaining motionless, or whether the turtles continue to swim while at the surface. Further, we desired to understand something of the energetics involved in the turtles dive behavior, thus we intended to measure heart rates simultaneously with the diving behavior and swim velocities. Finally we planned to use the velocity recorders to measure total distance travelled and thus better understand migratory capabilities of this species.