Scientists from the Aquarium, Museum and Zoo, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in St. Petersburg, and Florida's Eckerd College yesterday launched a 48-kilogram green turtle tagged with an advanced satellite transmitter from Turtle Cove, off the Island's north shore.

The transmitter -- fixed to the turtle's back by a fibreglass patch -- is the first to be used on a Bermudian turtle, Dr. Anne Meylan told The Royal Gazette .

It transmits data on the turtle's location, average number of dives, average duration of dives, duration of last dive, and water temperature to France's Argus satellite. The information is then downloaded and the turtle's progress is plotted by computers in St. Petersburg.

From that scientists hope to track the turtle's migration and answer questions about its population structure, growth rates, sex ratio, and site preferences.

The project, a collaborative effort between the Aquarium and the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, has been promoting the conservation of the green turtle through research and education since 1968.

Like most of its sister species, the green turtle is an endangered species, says Dr. Meylan, who together with her husband Dr. Peter Meyland, the Aquarium's project coordinator Jennifer Gray -- and with the "absolutely fantastic assistance'' of Captain John Whiting of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries research vessel Calamus -- have just finished an intensive three week sampling of the local turtle population.

About 170 turtles were caught by volunteers, measured, weighed, conventionally tagged, and blood samples taken, said Dr. Meylan.

Only immature turtles inhabit Bermudian waters, she says, and as they reach maturity migrate south. Previously tagged turtles caught near here have been recorded in Panama, Nicaragua, Cuba, and South Florida.

"But where they go, what route they take and how long it takes to get there we don't know,'' said Dr. Meylan.

"These are some of the questions we hope the satellite will help us to answer.''