You Can Follow and Track N.C. Aquarium's Released Sea Turtle on the Internet

By Julie Powers

Atlantic Beach, NC - A young sea turtle the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores recently released is keeping in touch as it gets acquainted with its new home, the Atlantic Ocean.

Aquarium staff tagged the loggerhead with a transmitter that uses satellite technology, similar to the Global Positioning System (GPS), to pinpoint the turtle’s location each time it surfaces.

The tagging efforts could provide information useful in developing protection plans, said Pat McNeese, the Aquarium’s Conservation and Research Coordinator. Researchers can learn more about the turtle population that nests on local beaches, and more about the behavior of young turtles.

Thanks to the Internet, the public also can follow the turtle’s travels.

“Its accessibility makes this program an extraordinary educational tool,” McNeese said.

To see the turtle’s route, go to www.seaturtle.org and click on the tracking link at the top. Find the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores Sea Turtle Awareness Program, and then click on the name “Chestnut.”

Supporters also can help advance the research work by "adopting" Chestnut through Seaturtle.org. Half the sponsorship fees go to the North Carolina Aquarium Society to pay for new transmitting devices. The remainder helps support Seaturtle.org, the organization that operates the free tracking center website for hundreds of sea turtles and other marine animals from around the world.

Aquarium staff released the turtle offshore on Aug. 12, catching a ride with Discovery Diving. The three-year-old had been in the Aquarium’s care since it was rescued on Bogue Banks as a stressed hatchling in 2006. It most recently had been on exhibit in the Queen Anne’s Revenge. The Aquarium annually cares for weak hatchlings rescued from area beaches. Most are released as soon as they regain strength, but a few stay at the Aquarium for up to three years.

Aquarium staff members hope the tagging project shows whether the movement patterns of rescued turtles differ from those that made it to sea without human assistance.

This was the fourth tagged turtle released by the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. The three North Carolina Aquariums together have had a part in tagging 10 other sea turtles since 2005.

The transmitters, about five inches long, are affixed to the shell with epoxy. A saltwater cutoff switch deactivates the device when the turtles dive, prolonging battery life. The lightweight, streamlined mechanisms have minimal effect on the turtles’ maneuverability, and eventually fall off after transmitting for up to a year.

Visitors to the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores can observe rescued sea turtle hatchlings in the Loggerhead Odyssey exhibit. A green sea turtle also currently inhabits the Living Shipwreck.

The Aquarium is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission is $8 for ages 18-61; $7 for ages 62 and up; $6 for ages 6-17; no charge for children 5 and under and North Carolina Aquarium Society members. The Aquarium is five miles west of Atlantic Beach at 1 Roosevelt Blvd., Atlantic Beach, NC 28512. See www.ncaquariums.com or call 252-247-4003 for more information.

Photos: North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores Aquarist Heather Broadhurst, right, and Discovery Diving’s David Osborne, an Aquarium volunteer diver, release a sea turtle with a tracking device on its shell. Photo by Steve Broadhurst.

To view North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores' web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to:  http://www.zandavisitor.com/forumtopicdetail-728-North_Carolina_Aquarium_at_Pine_Knoll_Shores