Hello everyone! Some of you may know, but for those that do not, we started tagging the nesting sea turtles on Jekyll Island once again! Under a permit issued by GADNR, the GSTC Sea Turtle Interns conducted nighttime patrols from 9pm-6am every night from May 15-August 25, 2007. The also conducted dawn surveys every morning to check on each nest individually and visual inspections to note signs of depredation, emergence or wash-out/over by the tides. Historically, tagging on JI was conducted continuously from 1972 through 1998, with nest monitoring continueing to the present day. The Interns were able to encounter the female for 38 of the 48 nests laid on JI this year!

Here is a summary of the results of the tagging data collected so far this season:
In 2007, we encountered 16 females-15 loggerheads, 1 green.
Flipper Tags:
• 12 did not have any flipper tags present—we tagged both flippers
• 3 had at least 1 flipper tag present—we tagged the other flipper
o 1 was tagged on JI in 1998
o 1 was tagged on JI in 1994
o 1 was tagged on JI in 1997
• 1 had both flipper tags present—nothing done
o Tagged on Wassaw in 2007

PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) Tags:
• 10 did not register a PIT tag—we PIT tagged
• 3 had an existing PIT tag—but during at least one encounter, it did not register so the turtle was given a new PIT tag
o 2 were tagged on JI in 1998
o 1 was tagged on JI in 1994
• 3 had existing PIT tags—nothing done
o 1 was tagged on Blackbeard on 2005
o 1 was tagged on JI in 1999
o 1 was tagged on Wassaw in 2007

Keep an eye on the website for more info about the tagging project..I promise it will be there soon!!!

Stefanie
Education & Field Coordinator