STRETCH NAGOYA

  AUGUST 8, 2024 POST NESTING LOGGERHEAD SATELLITE TAGGED  KOCHI BEACH, JAPAN The post-nesting loggerhead is now meandering around an area that appears to be very favorable for her. Loggerhead turtle 571 has begun to remain in the same vacinity which indicates that she has found an area that provides a bountiful foraging area. 571 has moved a little off shore and may be moving out into the Kuroshio current.  Stay turned to see where she goes! Above is an image of loggerhead #571 nesting on Kochi Beach taken by Noah Yamaguchi with a drone mounted IR camera at 0200 hours on August 6,2024.  A team from Usa Marine Biological Institute was able to capture her after she finished laying eggs. 571's eggs (110 in number) were retrieved and placed in the protected hatchery on Kochi Beach.  If these eggs hatch successfully, they will constitute the fourth cohort of STRETCH turtles scheduled for release in 2026!   Post nesting loggerhead turtle #571's locations an...

Noah and Catherine are the STRETCH representatives taking care of the 28 juvenile loggerhead turtles in cohort II of the STRETCH experiment.  They will be providing daily updates on the status of the turtles as they make their way across the Pacific to the area where they will be released into the central northeast Pacific Ocean.   The location of release will be as close as possible to where cohort I was released (~39 N and 146 W) , Noah and Catherine in their STRETCH T shirts during "loading day" when they loaded the 28 satellite tagged juvenile loggerheads on-board the Firmament Ace at the Port of Nagoya. Graphic of ships location and sea surface temperature. The latest update will be at the top of this post 7/8/2024 Twenty Eight Loggerheads were safely released from the Firmament Ace between 1410 and 1445 h (UTC-11) at  39°33.4669' N 148°29.7291' W.  The sea surface temperature was  18℃. See Pictures below of Catherine, Noah and the turtles.   As of now...

Investigating the impact of climate change on the ecology of loggerhead turtles: Transmitters attached to turtles to be released into the sea Nagoya Port Public Aquarium 6/18 (Tue) 17:18 Me~Tele (Nagoya TV) English Transcript: To study the impact of climate change on the ecology of loggerhead turtles, Nagoya Port Public Aquarium is installing transmitters on turtles to be released into the sea. In collaboration with research institutes in the United States and other countries, Nagoya Port Public Aquarium is investigating how climate change is affecting the swimming routes of loggerhead turtles in the sea, with the aim of more effective protection of the endangered loggerhead turtle. 28 loggerhead turtles are scheduled to be released into the central North Pacific Ocean in July, and on the 18th, transmitters that transmit location information were installed at the museum's research facility. "This survey will reveal new migration routes. We hope that the results will provide ma...

Link to current trajectory map of #203 and #204 3/27/2024 Turtle 204 continues to transmit locations very reliably.  It has been transmitting for 208 days now and has traveled roughly 8000 km.  Given that 208 days represents 4992 hours, 204 has been traveling/swimming at a rate of approximately 1.6 km/hour.  Below is a short animation of the water currents and 204's track indicating where 204 is as of March 27, 2024.   2/29/2024 Turtle 203 stopped transmitting on 2/3/24 but 204 continues to transmit.  Below is the current location of 204.  It appears that 204 is riding around in a small current eddy that has branched off of the main Kuroshio current.  These eddys tend to concentrate food items and are know to be areas preferred by loggerheads.   Above is an animation of the travels of #204 in the Eddy shown above from 1/13/24 to 2/29/24.   2/2/2024 Here is an animation of  203's and 204's trajectories after their release i...