Tagging turtles at Gales Point Wildlife Sanctuary
News Five does not only track the tumultuous courtroom sessions, but also creatures of the sea. While the Chairperson of the Gales Point Wildlife Sanctuary has not found Nemo, he is also looking for turtles. According to Kevin Andrewin, his group is tagging turtles that are laying their eggs in Gales Point.
Kevin Andrewin, Chairperson, Gales Point Wildlife Sanctuary
“Thanks to the Fisheries Department, we got the permit this year to do studies on the turtles—not only the testing—with the Marymount University again, we are tagging turtles in Gales Point and tracking them by satellite.”
Kevin Andrewin
“Now when you say tracking them by satellite, you mean we can actually go online or using GPS?”
Kevin Andrewin
“Yes you can go online and they will tell you exactly the location that the turtle is and also the water temperature the turtle is in.”
Jose Sanchez
“What can you learn by tracking turtles?”
Kevin Andrewin
“What we learn is how far they migrate. If they go to another country, how long they take to return back to the nesting beach and what time—whether it’s in the full moon or the dark. And so that will give us more information on how to monitor and be on time to cover the nest from predators. And then that will give us the amount of years the turtle take to come back to the nesting beach and that will give us an idea of how much food is there in the sea and how long their bodies take before they nurse them and then get back to the beach. If a turtle doesn’t eat enough food, it will take many year s to come back—it could take maybe four years six years to come back. But we expect them every two to three years and then we will get an idea on that exactly.”
Jose Sanchez
“The pictures you brought, what can we see happening in them?”
Kevin Andrewin
“In the pictures you will see a team from the Marymount University. Doctor Remquest and myself teaching the group, putting on these satellite tags and also we are doing training with the local community with the help of the Protected Areas Conservation Trust.”
