bajamigo
Super Nomad
Posts: 1218
Registered: 6-17-2006
Location: Punta Banda, BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: hubimos llegado
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Sea Turtles are Truly Amazing
Dan Haifley, Our Ocean Backyard: Adelita's incredible journey
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Article Launched: 08/24/2008 01:34:55 AM PDT
Twelve years ago, a loggerhead sea turtle named Adelita swam 7,000 miles from Mexico to Japan. Her celebrated journey confirmed for scientists that
this is a common pilgrimage for her species.
Young Adelita was captured off Baja California and lovingly raised by biologists Antonio and Bety Resendiz. She was released on Aug. 10, 1996, from
Santa Rosaliita on the peninsula's west coast.
Wallace J. Nichols, then a Ph.D. student at the University of Arizona, decided to track her travels and behaviors to test hypotheses about these
creatures. She was named for the daughter of a fisherman who helped attach her satellite transmitter.
Adelita swam across the Pacific at a rate of 60 miles a week. Her tag was live for 386 days. Signals were last transmitted near the town of Iso on
Japan's east coast, its battery past its expected life. The final positions were recorded on the 12th and 13th of August, a year after her release.
Loggerhead turtles are strong swimmers who feed on smaller animals they crush with powerful jaws. Now protected, they were once widely hunted for
their meat and eggs, and for their fat, which was used in cosmetics and medication. They continue to face many hazards, including bycatch -- their
unintended capture in fishing.
In 1999, Nichols was in Japan and tried to learn about Adelita's fate. He wrote: "I've been in Japan for the past several weeks ... the 'expedition'
ended up being more than
a simple effort. We arrived in the village where we think Adelita arrived in Japan.
"Trying desperately to explain with sign language, drawings, a few Japanese words learned along the way and a note written in Japanese by a friend, we
were not getting very far. After coming all this way, I wasn't going to let my lack of Japanese language ability stop us."
Dr. Nichols found a fisheries manager willing to help.
"I asked him 'Internet?' His response was 'hai' yes. He pulled out a laptop, dialed in to a local server and handed it to me. I typed in www.turtles.org and pointed to Adelita's tracking site. Pretty soon a small crowd gathered around the screen and we were looking at several of
Adelita's maps, photos, and poems by her fans.
"The fisheries manager understood what we were looking for. With the help of a dictionary, he explained that this year few turtles were caught via
bycatch, but in 1997 when Adelita was in the area, more were caught. Perhaps one was Adelita. He said he would investigate more with the local
fishermen. We exchanged phone numbers and e-mail."
Nichols later labeled her fate as a "tragic outcome." Track her journey at: www.vimeo.com/1482792.
Before Adelita, scientists believed that turtles hatched on Japan's beaches swam to Baja California to mature. Up to 30 years later, they would return
to Japan to mate and nest. Adelita's track is considered the first physical confirmation of this theory.
Recent studies by Nichols and his UC Santa Cruz colleague, Hoyt Peckham, indicate that the Baja California coast may be among the most dangerous
places in the world for sea turtles due to bycatch. Nichols says: "Our team has tracked more than 40 loggerhead turtles since Adelita and we have
learned a lot about both their feeding behavior near Baja California and their migrations to Japan. The next generation of transmitters will be
smaller, more powerful and will include imaging abilities. We'll solve some of the remaining sea turtle mysteries ... and discover brand new ones."
Dan Haifley has long been involved in ocean issues, and is the Executive Director of O'Neill Sea Odyssey. He can be reached at
dhaifley@oneillseaodyssey.org.
[Edited on 8-24-2008 by bajamigo]
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BajaVida
Senior Nomad
Posts: 541
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Motown, Califas
Member Is Offline
Mood: muy cool
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Antonia and Bety are wonderful
check them out at Campo Archelon when you go to BOLA
they have lots of info to share
No se apure y dure.
Don\'t hurry and you\'ll last longer.
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lovebahia22
Newbie
Posts: 19
Registered: 8-26-2007
Member Is Offline
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and only one turtle left, as of mid. july
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