Sea turtle flipper tag evidence shows that turtles found in Palau migrate to and from other countries in the region including the Philippines, Yap, and Indonesia.
Bureau of Marine Resource's Marine Turtle Conservation and Monitoring Program recently received sea turtle flipper tag and recapture data providing proof of long distance migrations of two green turtles and one hawksbill turtle.
A turtle with a tag in each front flipper was caught near Aimeliik State on March 20th. This green turtle (melob in Palauan) nested approximately 630 km away on Gielop Island in the Ulithi Atoll of Yap where the turtle was tagged nearly two years ago on June 26, 2005.
This tagging was done as part of the Yap Marine Turtle Project. On February 25, 2006, Helen Reef Conservation Officers tagged a turtle on Helen Island in Hatohobei State that was caught by a fisherman in Likopang, Indonesia on March 5, 2007.
After measuring the carapace (shell), this turtle was released by WWF-Indonesia. The MTCMP office also just received recapture information on a hawksbill turtle (ngasech in Palauan) tagged on February 24th, 2005 in Malakal.
The turtle was caught with a fisherman's net in Davao, Philippines on October 1st, 2005, then released after the tag was removed. This hawksbill tag recapture information was provided by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, the organization that provides flipper tags to member countries including Palau and Yap.
Similar to traditional Micronesians who were among the world's greatest seafarers, marine turtles also navigate vast stretches of open ocean. These endangered turtles migrate long distances from their nesting sites to regions where they feed. International collaboration is necessary to ensure the future of these species threatened by over-harvesting, habitat destruction, nest poaching, pollution, and off-shore fisheries impacts. Since sea turtles are a shared resource, responsibility for their management must also be shared. Given the downward trend of sea turtle populations in the Western Pacific, scientifically sound conservation, management, and recovery plans for sea turtles are urgently needed.
The MTCMP said it would like to collect more information about turtle-tags found in Palau. If you have any turtle flipper tags or information about tags, it is best to record the tag number, release the turtle with the tags in place, and contact Joshua Eberdong, the MTCMP coordinator, at 488-6747.
Dr. Nicolas J. Pilcher, Co-Chair IUCN SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group
To learn more about the turtle conservation projects sharing information with Palau's MTCMP, see: SPREP at http://www.sprep.org/ or Contact: Ann Trevor, annet@sprep.org.ws or
WWF-Indonesia: http://www.wwf.or.id/ or Contact: Dewi Satriani, DSatriani@wwf.or.id or Yap Marine Turtle Project: http://www.fpir.noaa.gov/IFD/ifd_sea_turtles_FSM_RMI.html.