“ALIEN” TAG CONFIRMS THE COUNTER MIGRATION OF LOGGERHEAD TURTLES FROM THE NORTHERN ADRIATIC TO KYPARISSIA BAY
A basic work in the context of ARCHELONʼs summer projects is the tagging of sea turtles. This is done by
experienced project members on a nesting beach as soon as a sea turtle finishes her egg laying.
The tags, metal and plastic, have a serial number and on their backside a return address. If the turtle is already tagged, project members, register the tagʼs code. In June 2010 in Kyparissia Bay researchers of ARCHELON recorded a tag code (IT 3052) which after investigation of ARCHELONʼs tagging data base was proved that it didnʼt belong to ARCHELON. So, this turtles was tagged by somebody else. But where? We should note here that project members are very busy during the night work and generally do not check the return address, assuming that all tags are ARCHELONʼs.
It is a well known fact that loggerhead turtles nesting in Zakynthos and Kyparissia Bay migrate, after their nesting, to northern Adriatic and Gulf of Gabès in Tunisia. This has been known mainly from fishermen reporting captures of turtles which have been tagged in Greece. The resolved case of the “alien” tag confirms now the counter reproductive migration of loggerhead turtles from the northern Adriatic to Kyparissia Bay. (DM)
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