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- Fourteen young loggerhead turtles were released back into the ocean with trackers from Cape Point in January.
- This is part of an international research project to track the "lost years" – between hatching and sexual maturity.
- The research findings will be useful for their conservation, according to the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation.
- For climate change news and analysis, go to News24 Climate Future.
Fourteen young loggerhead turtles were released back into the ocean with trackers from Cape Point in January.
This is part of an international research project to document the "lost years" of the turtles' lives between hatching and sexual maturity, the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation said in a statement on Tuesday.
The lost years are a "critical time" in the lives of turtles, and insights into their movements and early life stages will be useful in understanding how to protect them, the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation said.
This is the first time in Africa that loggerhead sea turtles were fitted with satellite tags and released. The foundation's Turtle Conservation Centre provided the turtles for the project and helped release them into the ocean.
Upwell Turtles, an organisation which seeks to protect endangered sea turtles, is leading the project. Other partners include researchers from Florida Atlantic University, the Okeanos Institute of the University of the Azores, and Lotek Wireless provides the tracking technology. Mercator Ocean International will assist with the analysis of the data collected.
The tags look like little boxes with aerials and are attached to the shell of the turtle. "Each tag will collect data on location, water temperature, and depth, and transmit this data to researchers via satellite each time the turtle comes to the surface to breathe," the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation said.
Each tag will be usable for about three months – or depend on the life of its solar-powered battery, and then fall off the turtle as the shell grows.
The lost years
"This study provides a unique opportunity to shine a light on the lost years and use that understanding to better manage human threats to turtle conservation," said George Shillinger, co-founder and director of Upwell Turtles.
According to the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, five out of the seven species of sea turtle visit South African waters. Two of them – the loggerhead and the leatherback – nest on South African shores. Both these species are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.
"Loggerhead and leatherback turtles hatch on the northern KwaZulu-Natal beaches, where the tiny hatchlings enter the ocean and the warm Agulhas current. This marks the beginning of the lost years – unless they strand on beaches, little is known about their whereabouts and behaviour until the females return to shore as adults to lay their eggs, while male turtles never return to land," the foundation said.
"Sexual maturity is reached between the ages of 25 and 35 years. Approximately one or two in every thousand hatchlings make it to adulthood," it added.
Insight into this "elusive lifecycle" is what makes this project so significant.
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Importantly, the Turtle Conservation Centre is looking to find out where the turtles are affected by pollutants in the ocean. Many of the sea turtles suffer from complications caused by ingesting plastic.
Every year, the conservation centre admits stranded hatchlings, and even adult turtles (mostly loggerheads) for rehabilitation, before they are released back into the ocean.
