Travelling turtles tracked
TURTLES fitted with transmitters have travelled all around the Mediterranean Sea, demonstrating that conservation of the marine environment knows no human borders, ecologists have reported.
At the beginning of March it was six months since the first generation of loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) to be born in Murcia region for at least 100 years was returned into the wild, explained the south east naturalists’ association
(ANSE).
On October 6, 2020, a total of 21 of these chelonians were released after almost a year being reared in captivity, in an attempt to increase the scant possibilities of survival for newborns.
The satellite transmitters, powered by tiny solar panels, provide their exact position on their fantastic marine voyage, probably to find the warm waters of the eastern Mediterranean.
The incredible journey of the turtles tagged by ANSE took them first to the northeast coast of Algeria, where the three sisters split up.
The first to separate was Caretto, who stopped for a few months around Ibiza and Formentera, then headed to Sardinia, then Sicily before finally crossing the to the eastern Mediterranean basin, where after several months of transmission they lost her signal in Maltese waters.
Her sisters took the 39th parallel towards Sardinia and Sicily but on the way Bobico’s
transmitter also stopped working. The loss of transmitter signals is not uncommon and does not necessarily mean bad news for the turtles.
The solar panels easily get covered with marine life and this makes the transmitters run out of power.
Argonaut is still sending news of her position and is currently in Greek waters, near the island of Crete, over 2,000 kilometres as the crow flies from her birthplace.