In-Water Surveys
When you see a turtle with a tag on its front flipper, it’s a sign that important information is being gathered. Research is a foundation of effective conservation, and each year STCB staff carefully capture, tag, weigh and measure approximately 150 turtles. Each turtle is checked for signs of injury and disease, then gently released where it was captured. It is arduous work, but over time the data gathered help us determine local trends in growth rates, the health status of our resident turtles, their movement around Bonaire and estimations of turtle abundance.
In 2003, we established standardized methods for the in-water survey and tagging program, and, as of December, 2009, have tagged 1,040 turtles.
We have learned that green turtles at Lac (a large, shallow bay on Bonaire’s east coast) show much higher growth rates than those of turtles in the rest of the Caribbean. Lac green turtles are showing an annual average growth of 8 centimeters (3 inches), compared to an average of 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) per year in the wider Caribbean region. This remarkable difference in growth rates underscores the exceptional ecological importance of Lac. A wide range of data will need to be collected and analyzed so that we may better understand what makes Lac such an outstanding habitat for growth while at the same time harboring a severe turtle disease (fibropapillomatosis). Only then will we be able to develop a management plan that can be used to promote optimum conditions. In the meantime, STCB is protecting habitat at Lac that is threatened by increasing human use.
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Turtles are brought aboard STCB's research boat for data collection - photo Marlene Robinson |
A green turtle with it's new i.d. tag - photo Marlene Robinson |
