Yesterday we were able to continue our successful run for the 2009-2010 San Diego Bay monitoring season, with two more turtles making an appearance. The first turtle who visited us was actually the very first one we found this season, "Bonita." The second turtle of the day was a brand new recruit (more on this juvenile to come in another post)!
Bonita was equipped with a satellite tag on November 5th, and she's been leaving her tracks since then. NOAA researchers have posted her path from the last two months on the wonderful sea turtle website (fresh with a new look!), SeaTurtle.org. See her tracks throughout the southern section of the San Diego Bay, covering 91km since November.
Researchers recovered the GPS tag and will be able to download the full data collected from this high-tech piece of equipment. The tag, a Wildlife Computers MK10-AF Argos-linked GPS transmitter, records not only the turtle's position, but other information about the animal's habitat as well, such as water temperature and depth.
Yesterday I was also able to meet the two new students affiliated with San Diego State University who will be continuing work very similar to the project I did for my Capstone project while at UCSD's SIO last year. In the coming years, and with support from the Port of San Diego, they will work with NOAA researchers and follow the localized movements of the turtles in the San Diego Bay and gather more detailed information about the water temperature and other factors affecting the turtles and their habitat. And with new developments regarding the life span of the South Bay Power Plant being made nearly every month, these findings on the turtle's habitat use will be useful to state and local regulators, power plant operators, and marine scientists alike.
(Photo: You don't usually see green sea turtle tracks on beaches of San Diego! These tracks were left by one of the green turtles as it was released back into the San Diego Bay after being weighed, measured and tagged.)
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