BVI BEACON (Tortola, British Virgin Islands) 25 August 05 Turtle tracked to Canada
A turtle that BVI officials helped outfit with a satellite transmitter in Anguilla has been tracked to the coast of the Canadian province of Newfoundland. Malliouhana, an endangered leatherback turtle that was the first from Anguilla to be fitted with a satellite transmitter tag, swam into Canadian Exclusive Economic Zone waters earlier this month and is now foraging offshore.
She nested on a beach in Anguilla and was tagged on May 13. As a result of a project headed by the University of Exeter in Cornwall, England and the Marine Conservation Society, internet users are able to track the turtle's migration.
The satellite tag transmits her position to orbiting satellites when she surfaces to breath, and is programmed to track her movements for up to three years. Her journey can be tracked at: www.seaturtle.org/tracking/Malliouhana. "Malliouhana is one of the first leatherback turtles followed on the seaturtle.org tracking web site.
These ocean wanderers really highlight the need for international co-operation in conserving sea turtles," said Michael Coyne a research scientist at Duke University and founder of seaturtle.org. The turtle has swum about 45 kilometres a day and has made dives to over 600 metres in depth before arriving in the continental shelf waters of Canada on Aug. 4.
An international team, including officers from Anguilla's Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources and the BVI's Conservation and Fisheries Department, fitted the tag as part of a wider, collaborative project known as Turtles in the UK Overseas Territories. It is a two-year project co-ordinated by the Marine Turtle Research Group.
"We are very pleased with Malliouhana's progress, because for the first time she has revealed where some of Anguilla's critically small leatherback turtle nesting population goes after they complete their nesting cycle in Anguilla." said Peter Richardson, who helped attach the tag.
"Malliouhana has shown us once again that marine turtles do not recognise national boundaries. This means that countries far apart from each other have to work together to protect these spectacular animals."
Turtle tracked to Canada