Every year, sea turtles travel thousands of miles across the Caribbean Sea, navigating ancient routes that connect feeding grounds and nesting beaches. Much of their lives remains out of sight, glimpsed only when turtles surface near shore or crawl onto beaches to nest. Today, however, new research is illuminating these hidden journeys.
Sea turtle scientists Alejandro Prat and Joseph Roche have been working with the Department of Environment (DoE) for more than 10 years, conducting research on Cayman’s turtle nesting populations. Now they are looking to better understand offshore movements and migrations. Funded through a Darwin Plus Local grant, the project uses tracking technology to study sea turtles in Cayman waters.
“The project’s purpose is to track hawksbill, green, and loggerhead sea turtles to identify key feeding, internesting and breeding areas, and support conservation efforts by guiding protection strategies,” said sea turtle scientist Alejandro Prat. “This research is not only advancing science, it is shaping how the Cayman Islands protect some of their most iconic wildlife.”
Studying Cayman’s Turtles
Juvenile and adult turtles use Cayman waters differently. Young turtles may have hatched elsewhere in the Caribbean, but Cayman’s reefs and seagrass beds can become their nursery, giving them places to feed and grow. Adult breeding turtles follow a different rhythm: they are part of Cayman’s nesting population, returning in summer to mate or nest, while spending the rest of the year feeding elsewhere in the Caribbean.
To better understand these dynamics, the project uses two types of tracking.
Acoustic tags emit coded sound signals.
DoE has an extensive network of underwater receivers that can detect those signals when a tagged turtle swims nearby. Each detection records the turtle’s identity and the time of detection. One detection shows that a turtle was present in a particular place at a particular time. Over time, those detections can show whether turtles return repeatedly to places that may be important for feeding, breeding, or resting. Some turtles also carry satellite transmitters. These help scientists follow journeys beyond Cayman waters.
Tracking Helps Protection
“Sea turtles face mounting pressures including habitat degradation from coastal development, pollution, unsustainable tourism practices, warming seas, illegal poaching and bycatch in fisheries,” said Roche. “Understanding where turtles go is the first step in protecting them.”
Twenty years after DoE’s 2003–2006 satellite-tracking project first let the public follow Cayman turtles online, DoE is bringing the maps back. To help with funding for satellite tags, DoE secured turtle sponsorships where organizations named their turtle, and are able to follow it online and share its journey.
“When we tracked turtles before, people told me they would log in every day to check on them,” said DoE Marine Research Officer Janice Blumenthal. “They followed the individual stories – kids, adults, everyone. I’m excited for people to have that window into the turtles’ movements again.”
For some turtles, the map may lead back to the same reef or seagrass bed. For others, it may lead across the Caribbean.
Learn more at www.doe.ky/turtles
Follow tagged turtle journeys at www.doe.ky/turtletracker