seaturtle.org - Sea Turtle Tagging

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Sea Turtle Tagging

Welcome to the SEATURTLE.ORG Tagging Site.

The fact that you are reading this implies that you are interested in tagging sea turtles. Perhaps you are thinking of establishing your own tagging program. Much of the information available about tags, their benefits and weaknesses, comes from the pooled experience of many people working on sea turtles. For these reasons, we have created this single centralized site in order to provide as much information and detail as possible about tagging. However, the act of tagging is not to be taken lightly, and placing any kind of tag on a turtle should not be done simply for the sake of tagging, otherwise known as the "tagging reflex" coined by Mrosovsky (1983) and revisited by Witzell (1998). The tag that might be attached to any turtle will be for the purpose of specifically identifying that individual and discovering something about its life history and habits. The relevant time span for this might be from days to decades. In some cases a combination of different tags placed on each turtle may be desirable.

Prior to initiating a tagging program, various issues must be addressed, including the health and safety of the field personnel, the welfare of the turtles and the objectives of the study that involves tagging (Balazs, G. H. 1999. Factors to consider in the tagging of sea turtles. Pages 101-109 in K. L. Eckert, K. A. Bjorndal, F. A. Abreu-Grobois, and M. Donnelly (eds). Research and Management Techniques for the Conservation of Sea Turtles. IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group, available in pdf format).

However, before you go any further, there is an extremely important matter that must be considered at the onset: what are the local and/or national laws regulating sea turtles in your country? More specifically, do you have the proper permission to conduct tagging in the first place? In many countries, sea turtles are protected by a variety of laws and you may need to obtain a permit before you can attach any tags to the turtles. Also, are there other projects working on turtles in your country or region? In order to avoid duplication of effort and also to optimize tagging activities, you may wish to link your project with others working in your area. Exchanging information and sharing experiences can only benefit effective sea turtle conservation and management.

Another important consideration relates to the overall objectives of your tagging project. How you will analyze the tagging data will have an influence of what kinds of tags you use and how you will apply them. The number of individual turtles to be tagged in a study is another important consideration. Please visit the data analysis section of this tagging site for more information. Also, do not forget that it is likely that some tags will outlive your tagging project. In this case, is there a mechanism whereby tagging data can be adequately processed? Note that the Tagfinder service of seaturtle.org can help archive tagging information. Other questions that can help design your tagging project can be found here

Please use the links on the left hand side of the page to find more detailed information about different kinds of tags. We will continue to modify and update this site over time, as new technologies and information become available. We hope you find it useful and please send your comments or suggestions to tagging@seaturtle.org.

Creation of this site was due to the collaborative efforts of:

Michael S. Coyne	Matthew H. Godfrey	Brendan J. Godley

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to our colleagues who have provided constructive comments and advice specifically for this website: Larisa Avens, Dean Bagley, Janice Blumenthal, Lucy Hawkes, Corinne Martin, Catherine McClellan, Nick Pilcher, Bob Prince, and Alan Rees.