‘Tucker’, a green sub-adult turtle involved in Bermuda’s Tour de Turtles research project that began in August, has been tracked to the Bahamas after an impressive 1,000-mile swim that included a direct encounter with Hurricane Sandy.
One of five turtles fitted with GPS tracking devices, ‘Tucker’ traveled further than the other four enlisted turtles. A second tagged turtle ‘Catherine’, also traveled a distance from Bermuda and was last logged 600 miles southwest of Bermuda.
Tour de Turtles Bermuda is an offshoot of the Bermuda Turtle Project, a 44-year long in-water study of Bermuda’s turtles conducted in partnership between Sea Turtle Conservancy (formerly Caribbean Conservation Corporation) and the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo. The Bermuda Turtle Project is focused on filling in the information gaps on green turtle biology so that successful protection may be given to these endangered animals. The Bermuda Turtle Project has assembled important data sets on size and maturity status, growth rates, sex ratios, residency, site fidelity, genetic diversity, and movement patterns in immature green turtles in Bermuda waters.
‘Tucker’s’ satellite tracking device showed a visit to Abaco Island early in November and on November 8 ‘Tucker’ was located in waters around Andros Island. A check on ‘Tucker’s’ location at press time (November 16) revealed ‘Tucker’ was offshore the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area.
‘Tucker’ was caught when a juvenile turtle by researchers at Wreck Hill, Bermuda and was sponsored in the Tour de Turtles by the Bermuda Department of Conservation Services. All five turtles swam for various causes that have direct impact on sea turtle conservation; ‘Tucker’s’ cause was to raise awareness about the threat of Harvest for Consumption. The other four causes included the threat of plastic debris, threat of coastal development, threat of climate change, and the threat of commercial longline fishing.
Turtles return to the beach where they hatched to breed, but scientist say that distance swimmers ‘Tucker’ and ‘Catherine’ are still sub-adult turtles and appear to be widening their horizons and visiting feeding and resident areas where they will be in the company of other semi-adult turtles.
Bermuda represents an important juvenile green sea turtle developmental habitat where hatchlings grow into sub-adult turtles. Bermuda is one of a few locations on earth where immature green turtles occur in the complete absence of adults, and may be one of the best sites in the world to study green turtles of this age in their natural habitat.
Most studies of sea turtles take place on nesting beaches. Bermuda provides scientists and resource managers with a unique opportunity to study the little understood juvenile stage of the green turtle.
Juvenile green turtles that arrive in Bermuda come from a number of locations, including Florida, Mexico and Cuba.
For more information, visit www.tourdeturtles.org/Bermuda.