Turtle «Salina» has already traveled 292 kilometers…but chose a different route

This specimen of the species Caretta caretta is swimming about 42 kilometers a day

Seven days after being returned to the sea, the Salina turtle has already swam 292 kilometers, which means that it is already 239 kilometers from the place where it was returned to the ocean (12 nautical miles, that is, about 22 kilometers, south of Faro), in a cooperation between Zoomarine and the Portuguese Navy.

This salt path is available, online, to those who wish to follow it and shows that, on average, this specimen of the species Caretta caretta is swimming about 42 kilometers a day.

The signals appear to show periods of very active swimming, alternating with periods of rest and/or feeding.

However, in the last two days, and contrary to past projects (3 turtles in “Operation Delayed Return”, in July 2009, and 1 turtle in “Operation Grande Return”, in August 2019), Salina decided to cross the Strait. from Gibraltar and enter the Mediterranean Sea.

Such an incursion could be mere chance or it could mean that this specimen belongs to a population of the region, so this route could be a “return home”.

 

The Salina turtle, with the transmitter attached to its shell, on its way to be released – Photo: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação

 

The KiwiSat Argos equipment, which is expected to be attached to its shell for about two years, continues to collect a lot of data and has a sensor that determines when it is on the surface – when it tries to locate satellites and download the collected data.

Thus, and if everything goes as planned, the device should have enough battery for 13 to 15 months of activity, so it is expected that the next few weeks will allow to understand many more details of the course of this chelonian.

The risks to Salina's survival will continue to be daily – and forever; but they are part of an autonomous life of a turtle in seas so full of human activities.

This loggerhead turtle spent 13 months in recovery at Porto d'Abrigo do Zoomarine, after being found by a fisherman in the Guadiana river, in the Azinhal area. It was returned to nature on the 20th of July, in an operation that the Sul Informação followed

 

 



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