Globe-trotting sea turtle remembered for contributions to research
Posted September 26, 2018 1:09 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
DIGBY, N.S. – A distinguished sea turtle whose global travels deepened scientists’ understanding of leatherback biology has died, say federal fisheries officials.
Red Rockette was first tagged off Nova Scotia in 2012, and since then her travels to and from a Colombia beach have offered scientists in both countries a previously unseen look into her species’ movements and nesting patterns — a hefty scientific contribution that few individual animals can claim.
Researchers were “saddened to confirm” Tuesday that an adult female sea turtle found near Digby, N.S. in August was, in fact, Red Rockette, though the cause of death remains undetermined.
She was believed to be “a couple decades old.”
In 2013, the Canadian research team watching Red Rockette’s movements contacted a group of Colombian researchers, who encountered the turtle when she came ashore to nest on Bobalito beach in 2013.
Against all odds, she was discovered again by scientists again in Canadian waters in 2014 — then again on Bobalito beach in 2016.
Mike James, a federal sea turtle biologist, said while the end of Red Rockette’s “remarkable” story is a sad one, her frequent sightings made her a fan favourite with scientists and the public alike, in a field where many tagged animals are never seen again.
