Providenciales, 15 May 2015 – Two more teenage green turtles have been captured and fitted with hi-tech satellite transmitters and released on the Caicos Banks as part of ongoing research by the Turks and Caicos Islands Turtle Project (TCITP). The effort involves TCITP staff from the UK’s Marine Conservation Society, the Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs (DEMA), the Amanyara Resort and some South Caicos fishermen. Together these have caught and outfitted the two, taking the number of turtles being tracked to 19, including 13 teenage Green Turtles, four adult Hawksbills and 2 adult Green Turtles, one of which was Suzie. Suzie was the first turtle to be tracked in TCI and in 2009 migrated over 3,700 miles through the territories of 15 different countries before returning to TCI in January 2010. A report from DEMA revealed that while one of the turtles, named Sea Biscuit, has remained close to Ocean Hole where they were released 10 days ago, the other turtle, Yara, started heading west possibly on a ‘developmental migration’, a rarely recorded and poorly understood behavior that the project hopes to track. If you happen to encounter one of the turtles retrofitted for this research project, please leave it alone and report it to DEMA.
