Tagging Hawksbill Turtles in WPB (pics)

[mscott556]

Here are some pics from Sunday's turtle dive with Larry Wood and Pura Vida Divers. We dove on The Corridor and Mid Reef and Larry managed to tag a new turtle from each site. Larry is tagging these turtles for the Florida Hawksbill Project and has permits to do so...don't try this at home!


Descending on the Mizpah



Larry capturing the 1st Hawksbill


Tagging the flipper




Larry bringing up the 2nd Hawksbill




On a side note...the Canon S95's slow auto-focus is really starting to get on my nerves.

 

[jet126]

OMG RATMAN! That was me & Judy with you!



WHAt A perfect dAY!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

so it is ok to restrain a sea turtle and keep them submerged for the duration of a nice slow ascent from 80 feet or so? Do you do a safety stop with the turtle not breathing? Just curious? It would seem that they would be struggling and very unhappy for the whole time.

 

[Zen Diving Inc.]

so it is ok to restrain a sea turtle and keep them submerged for the duration of a nice slow ascent from 80 feet or so? Do you do a safety stop with the turtle not breathing? Just curious? It would seem that they would be struggling and very unhappy for the whole time.

Considering how long most turtles can hold their breath... 4-7hrs I doubt the safety stop would bother them. 80' at 30' per min to 15 ' is about 2.5min... 3 min safety stop, now where at 5.5 min plus travel to the surface.. 6min max total in travel time. I doubt the turtle thought he was going to drown... Happy on the the other hand is debatable... At the greater good for his brothers and sisters, i'm sure if he or she could understand would be more then willing...

 

[mscott556]

OMG RATMAN! That was me & Judy with you!



WHAt A perfect dAY!

Haha, I didn't realize you two were "the Js" from SB. Seems obvious now:doh:

so it is ok to restrain a sea turtle and keep them submerged for the duration of a nice slow ascent from 80 feet or so? Do you do a safety stop with the turtle not breathing? Just curious? It would seem that they would be struggling and very unhappy for the whole time.

Why don't you ask sea turtle researcher Larry Wood? I couldn't tell you as we stayed down after he went up.


Just to reiterate...it is illegal to touch or capture Hawksbills in the wild unless you have a permit to do so.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Considering how long most turtles can hold their breath... 4-7hrs I doubt the safety stop would bother them. 80' at 30' per min to 15 ' is about 2.5min... 3 min safety stop, now where at 5.5 min plus travel to the surface.. 6min max total in travel time. I doubt the turtle thought he was going to drown... Happy on the the other hand is debatable... At the greater good for his brothers and sisters, i'm sure if he or she could understand would be more then willing...

Thanks, I used to ride turtles for fun underwater, but people have indicated that this stresses them out and that all the exertion and excitement could cause the turtle to drown or something. I guess they were wrong about this then.

I think that it is great that you are helping with the turtle research.

 

[deeper thoughts]

good work thanx for sharing

 

[Zen Diving Inc.]

Thanks, I used to ride turtles for fun underwater, but people have indicated that this stresses them out and that all the exertion and excitement could cause the turtle to drown or something. I guess they were wrong about this then.

I think that it is great that you are helping with the turtle research.

I think we have all done things we shouldn't at some point... LOL... Im not involved in the tagging of turtles but I support the research of marine animals. Maybe I interpreted your original post wrong... My impression was, you were being sarcastic and a bit perturbed that they where doing this in the first place. I was merely trying to put some of your concerns at rest. (if there really was any). Do I think a recreational diver should mess with the turtles in any form other then taking pictures no. Do I agree that they did what needed to be done, and did so to the best of their ability yes.

 

[Reck Diver]

Considering how long most turtles can hold their breath... 4-7hrs I doubt the safety stop would bother them. 80' at 30' per min to 15 ' is about 2.5min... 3 min safety stop, now where at 5.5 min plus travel to the surface.. 6min max total in travel time. I doubt the turtle thought he was going to drown... Happy on the the other hand is debatable... At the greater good for his brothers and sisters, i'm sure if he or she could understand would be more then willing...

I'm not sure where your found the 4-7 hours submerged time, it may be applicable for some species of sea turtles, but I don't believe the Hawksbill can stay under water for anywhere near that length of time, especially while under duress.

I believe it was Sea World Orlando that published data stating that the Hawksbill can remain underwater less than an hour.

BTW, I strongly encourage the tagging program. I hope some valid science is obtained from it.

 

[bilsant]

I'm impressed at the research and the effort involved.

Not too long back I grabbed a fairly small hawksbill (not much bigger than the first one in the pics) to try to get a hook out of his mouth...I'd heard about the drowning issue so I didn't hold on to him very long, but was very surprised at just how strong he was. While he wasn't more than about 2' across, he dragged my butt across the reef in record time. These must have been a handful to control on the ascent.

And in my humble experience, just about every dive with the BBs turns out to be a great day...they've got that karma working....