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During mid-August 1997, researcher Barbara Schroeder (National Marine Fisheries Service), with the assistance of Dr. Llew Ehrhart and his students (University of Central Florida) attached satellite transmitters to the backs of five endangered green turtles that nested in the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge near Melbourne, Florida. The research was aimed at continuing to increase our knowledge of the principle foraging grounds and migratory routes used by Florida's nesting population of green turtles.
Similar tracking experiments conducted in 1994, 1995 and
1996 yielded exciting new information about where green turtles go after
nesting on Florida's east coast. See the section titled Results
of 1994 & 1995 Migration-Tracking of Florida Green Turtles
and Results from 1996 Migration Tracking
for more details. The research being conducted will helped advance our
understanding of the green turtle's migratory habits.
Thanks to Dean Bagley of the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group for providing the tagging history on all of the turtles tagged in 1997.
For more information on sea turtles, check out the Sea Turtles Information section of our website.
Click on the turtle's name to see a map of its movements.
FLO-JO - The first turtle tagged with a satellite transmitter in 1997 was encountered nesting at Melbourne Beach on August 21. However, this turtle, named Flo-Jo, is not new to us. We encountered her nesting in 1995, and, at that time, we put her first satellite transmitter on her. When she returned this year, her transmitter was no longer present (they are designed to fall off harmlessly), however, we were able to recognize her because she had a small tag in her flipper (the most common way of tagging sea turtles). To our knowledge, this is the first time that a sea turtle has been re-tagged, with a satellite transmitter, during different nesting seasons. It is exciting because we will hope to learn whether or not she returns to the same location that she migrated to in 1995.
ENDORA - The second turtle selected for this year's study, named Endora, laid a clutch of 88 eggs on August 22, 1997. Her satellite tag was applied at that time. She had not been observed nesting at Melbourne Beach prior to this date, however, not all of the green turtles that nest in this area are encountered each year. It is possible that she was a re-migrant (a turtle returning in a subsequent year to nest) but it is also possible that this was her first nesting season. Endora is the smallest of the five green turtles selected for our research, she measures 95.3cm in carapace (shell) length.
MARJORIE - Marjorie is an old friend. She was first observed by the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group in 1991, then again in 1993, and, in 1997, she was observed nesting three times. Her satellite tag was applied on August 23, after she laid a clutch of 140 eggs. Marjorie measures 102.6cm in carapace (shell) length.
JACQUES-LINE - Jacques-line was first observed nesting at Melbourne Beach in 1992, she was seen twice that summer. She re-migrated in 1994 when she was observed four times. She was first observed in 1997 on August 13 and was discovered again on August 24, at which time we attached the satellite transmitter. She laid a clutch of 92 eggs. Jacques-line measures 96.3cm in carapace (shell) length.
RHONDA - Rhonda is the turtle with the longest known history of this year’s satellite tagged turtles. She was first observed by the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group in 1987. However, at that time, she already carried a flipper tag from another group of researchers working in south Brevard County, and was likely tagged sometime in the early 1980's. She was seen again by the UCF group in 1989, 1991, but not observed again until this year. We believe that she did return to the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge to nest in the intervening years, but was not observed. Rhonda measures 110cm in carapace (shell) length.
Funding for the 1997 Florida Green Turtle Satellite Tracking research was provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Maps were created by Andrea Mosier (Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission) and Barbara Schroeder (National Marine Fisheries Service).
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