Cemetery Beach Port Hedland Flatback Tracking Project 2009/2010

A project of West Australian Sea Turtle Satellite Tracking Project.

click map for full-size version This turtle appears to have returned to the rookery she was first tagged at in 2002 (Mundabullangana) after being recorded nesting at Cemetery Beach in December 2009. This is the first time we have seen a satellite tracked turtle move between rookeries in the same season.

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Species: Flatback Turtle
Life Stage: Adult
Gender: Female
Release Date: 2009-12-12 19:10:00
Release Location: Cemetery Beach
Last Location: 2010-11-28 17:44:41

Adoptive Parents:
Oscar Mason Public Library

Background

This tracking program is supported by BHP Billiton Quantum outer harbour project and is being carried out in conjunction with flatback turtle flipper tagging program on Cemetery Beach. The results will provide data on the number of turtle nesting at Cemetery Beach and will allow researchers to identify turtles that move between rookeries (eg turtles tagged at Mundabullangana have been seen at Cemetery Beach) in addition to showing us where they go between nesting events both within a season and between seasons, what migratory corridors they use when returning to remote foraging grounds and will show us where those foraging grounds are.

This turtle was found nesting on Cemetery Beach and carried a flipper tag which indicated it had been tagged 7 years earlier on the rookery at Mundabullangana Station ~80km south west of Port Hedland.