`Bermuda is a very important developmental habitat for the turtles...What we've found is that turtles are expert navigators. It's fantastic.' -- David Godfrey Endangered turtles are to be sent surfing the web around Bermuda when ocean experts strap tiny satellite antennas to their shells.

Researchers will fit the mini transmitters to green turtles off the Island's shores later this year so their movements can be tracked on the Internet.

And scientists on the Bermuda Turtle Project, based at the Aquarium, will encourage children to log on in schools for projects on turtle migration.

They are also planning more visits to classrooms and an educational exhibit on protecting turtles at the Aquarium.

Project coordinators, working with the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, launched the turtle-tracking scheme in a bid to raise awareness.

Now they are warning Bermudians: not to throw litter in the sea not to release helium-filled balloons which are eaten by turtles not to drive boats so fast that turtles cannot get away not to over-fish Bermuda's reefs, and not to allow fishing equipment to fall into the water in case turtles are tangled up.

Dr. Anne Meylan, a leading researcher at the CCC based at the University of Florida in Gainesville, believe turtles have a natural, in-built compass which sends them on a direct migration path from Bermuda to the Mosquito Coast off Nicaragua.

The turtles, originally from Tortuguero Beach in Costa Rica, swim through the Sargasso Sea to Bermuda when they are young.

They return to the Mosquito Coast off Nicaragua when they are older, to start breeding.

But a project to tag all turtles off Bermuda has shown researchers that they may swim in a straight line for the 1,000-mile journey.

And several tagged turtles have been found on beaches in Cuba -- which is directly en route.

CCC Executive Director David Godfrey, on a one-week turtle-studying mission in Bermuda, said: "We have been collaborating with the Aquarium for a number of years.

"Caribbean green turtles are an endangered species and Bermuda is central to their survival.

"We have been studying the young turtles around Bermuda, which swim to the Island in Sargasso floats.

"Bermuda is a very important developmental habitat for them. And the turtle tags include messages in Spanish and English asking people to ring us if they find them.

"There is a reward if people do contact us with the tag number and location and that allows us to follow the turtle's exact migration path.

"What we've found is that turtles are expert navigators. It's fantastic.'' He said the new satellite transmitters will give the Florida researchers exact latitude and longitude readings which can be mapped on the Internet.

Jennifer Gray, coordinator of the Bermuda Turtle Project, said 24 tagged turtles had already been spotted in the Mosquito Coast and five had been found in Cuba.

She added: "Somehow, they work their way around Cuba until they are back on course for Nicaragua.

"We're now looking for corporate sponsorship to help pay for the satellite antennas because they cost about $4,000 each and the battery lasts a year.

"They are extremely lightweight and do not upset the turtles and they may help us save them.

"Companies could even name the turtle they sponsor if it helps them and that would really help us.

"Now it's important that our children are taught about how central Bermuda is to the survival of these turtles and how we can help protect them.'' David Godfrey Graphic file name: GODDFREY Graphic by Hope Robbins