4/10/2020

Three of our satellite tagged hawksbills are still transmitted from their home foraging grounds.

The tracks shown above represent the post-nesting migration routes for three turtles that are still transmitting at this time (5/12/20).  They all traveled from Moso Island, Republic of Vanuatu and are currently at their home foraging grounds.

Below is some current home range locations for three of our hawksbill turtles satellite tagged on Moso Island during the 2019 and 2020 nesting seasons. Two of them are currently residing on the southern reef of New caledonia (Launmakala and Pua Lilia) and one (Tassiriki) is located off the southwest coast of Aneityum Island (most southerly Island, Republic of Vanuatu).

Home range locations of Tassiriki off the southern coast of Aneityum Island, Vanuatu.

Home range locations for Pua Lilia, southwest of New Caledonia.

Home range locations for Launmakala off of the south coast of New Caledonia.

Tracks As Of 2/25/2020

Below are the migratory tracks of Pansiko, Launmakala and Tassiriki as of 2/14/2020.

Pansiko has traveled approximately 1700 Km in 44 days at an average speed of 1.64 km/h.  She currently appears to be headed for the east coast of Australia.  

This track image shows a 2018 track taken by "Lucy" from Moso Island to Australia.  

Above is an animation of the track that Pansiko took from Moso to near Australia.

Laumakala Migratory Track and Home Range

Launmakala (713459) left Moso 4 days after nesting and has traveled to whate appears to be her home foraging grounds off of the southern tip of New Caledonia.  Her homeward migration traversed 700 km in 21 days for an average speed of ~.8 km/hr.

Launmakala's home range is approximately 3.5 km X 1 km.  

Tassiriki has arrived at her home forage grounds off the southwest Shores of Aneityum Island.  This is the first of our 7 tagged turtles that remained within the republic of Vanuatu.

TRACKS AS OF 2/13/2020

2/13/2020

Tracks of Launmakala, Tassiriki and Pansiko are shown below.  These are their locations as of 2/13/2020.

Tracks as of 2/10/202

Results from the 2018 and 2019 Tagging Trips
More detailed result from 2019 (Pua Lilia) Iridium Tag
Poster Paper, 2018 (Teslaba, Lucy, Ethana)

January 27, 2020

On January 7th, 8th and 12th, our team from Hawaii Preparatory Academy and from the Vanuatu Cultural Centre/National Museum, Republic of Vanuatu traveled to Moso Island, Republic of Vanuatu to conduct our third effort to capture and satellite tag post-nesting hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata).
During our three nights on the nesting beaches, we were able to locate and tag 3 turtles (Table 1).
Two of the Turtles were outfitted with Telonics TGW-4*7* Iridium GPS tags and one was outfitted with a Telonics TAM 2640 ARGOS tag. 

NOTE:  Tissue samples for DNA analysis have been taken from 4 of the 7 satellite tagged adult turtles and from 20+ juvenile hawksbill turtles in the last two years of the project

Our Turtles now have names:
713459 is named "Launmakala"
713458 is named "Tassiriki"
164950 is named "Pansiko"

Currently, All three hawksbill turtles are transmitting successfully.  Launmakala (713459) has traveled southwest from Moso Island and is currently passing through the Loyalty islands (Figure 1). Tassiriki (713458) is still in the area of the  the nesting  beaches and will most likely nest again (Figure 2).    Pansiko (164950) moved out from Moso Island shortly after her capture and is currently moving west-southwest of Moso Island, passing across the north end of the New Caledonia archipelago (Figure 3).

Table 1.  Summary of hawksbill nesting turtles satellite tagged on Moso Island between January 7 and January 12, 2020.

SAT TAG # Name	Date Captured	Date Released	Location of Release	Curved Carapace Length and Width (cm)	Flipper Tags LFF = left front flipper RFF = right front flipper
Iridium 713459 Launmakala	Jan. 7, 2020	Jan. 7, 2020	17.522134 S 168.240484 E	CCL=87 CCW=77.0	Old Tags: LFF=R49320 RFF=R49321
Iridium 713458 Tassiriki	Jan. 8, 2020	Jan. 9, 2020	17.522101 S 168.239628	CCL=94.5 CCW=85.5	Old Tags: LFF=R40015 RFF=R40016
TAM 2640 164950 Pansiko	Jan. 12, 2020	Jan. 12, 2020	17.520570 S 168.258996 E	CCL=100.0 CCW=95.0	New Tags: LFF=R40763 RFF=R40764

Below are a couple of videos of the travels of two of our tagged turtles as of 1/30/2020

                                      

Figure 1.  Launmakala's (713459) track from 1/7/20 to 1/30/20 as it moves south-southwest to past Lifou Island in the Loyalty Islands.  She is currently skirting the south-east tip of New Caledonia.

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Figure 2.  Tassiriki's (713458) track from 1/8/20 to 2/8/20 where she remained off the nesting beaches nesting two more times after capture.

Figure 3.  Tassiriki's (713458) track from 2/8/20 to 2/10/20, she appears to be through nesting and has begun here migration back to her forage grounds

Satellite View

Map View

Figure 4.  Pansiko (713459) has now transited the northern reach of the New Caledonia Archipelago

and is progressing into the Coral Sea.  I would say, based on two other tracks, that she is bound for

the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.  We shall see!