Turtles visiting Bermuda will be in constant contact with the Island, thanks to state-of-the-art satellite technology and generous donations to the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo (BAMZ).

Satellite transmitters, attached by fibreglass to the backs of large turtles, will provide a daily record of turtles' progress as they leave Bermuda.

One hundred and two green turtles have been captured this month, three of which were fitted with transmitters. The transmitters send data of the turtle's location, average number and duration of dives and water temperatures back to the Aquarium scientists.

The Project Team, which includes nine students, has also attached data recording devices to 18 other turtles. The tags, when recovered, will have stored various information including dive depth, water temperature and the turtle's tilt angle.

The tags were donated to the project by manufacturing company Starr Oddi of Iceland under the direction of Scotland BAMZ Research Associate Dr. John Davenport.

Bermuda has one of the healthiest populations of green turtles in the Atlantic Ocean, according to BAMZ. Although these turtles have not nested on Bermuda beaches for more than 85 years, turtles arrive after hatching on beaches elsewhere in the Atlantic. With a shell length of about 25 centimetres, the turtles grow to about 75 centimetres while in Bermuda's waters. Further growth occurs elsewhere.

The Bermuda Turtle Project is a cooperative research and conservation programme of the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo and the Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC). Initiated in 1968, the project is designed to promote the conservation of marine turtles through research and education.

In the study, turtles are captured at more than 20 sites around the Island.

They are then measured, weighed, tagged and released.

Tags attached prior to the new satellite initiative bear a number identifying the turtle and a return address. Although not as advanced, these tags allow Bermuda researchers to identify turtles which have previously visited the island and record their growth. Researchers can also learn the whereabouts of Bermuda turtles elsewhere in the world. To date, 33 turtles bearing Bermuda Turtle Project tags have shown up in Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Grenada and St. Lucia.

"The Bermuda Turtle Project is indebted to the CCC and Chevron Bermuda Ltd.

for their generous contributions towards the purchase of these expensive satellite transmitters and for their general support of this very important study,'' said project coordinator Jennifer Gray.

"We hope that Bermuda will share in our excitement as we plot the course of our satellite tagged turtles.'' HI-TECH TURTLES -- Members of the project team for the Bermuda Turtle Project at the Bermuda Aquarium attach a satellite transmitter to the shell of a green turtle. From left are Dr. Peter Meylan, Associate Professor at Eckerd College in Florida and Scientific Director of the Bermuda Turtle Project; Sherrie Floyd from the New England Aquarium in Boston; and Bonnie Coy, a project intern from Maryland.

CONNECTED -- A satellite transmitter is attached to the shell of a green turtle by a member of the project team for the Bermuda Turtle Project at the Bermuda Aquarium. The device allows scientists to track the turtles and monitor their activities.