HYANNIS – Researchers from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center successfully attached satellite tags to nine leatherback turtles in Cape Cod Bay over the summer.
After two year of pilot studies identifying more efficient and cost effective ways to tag leatherbacks, researchers tagged and sampled the turtles in late August.
It marked the first year of full sampling and field work in Massachusetts.
The studies were funded as part of the Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species, which supports turtle ecology as part of its mission.
Loggerheads have been a focus in the past, but the new Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species emphasizes learning more about leatherbacks.
For more information on the tagging of the Leatherbacks, visit nefsc.noaa.gov.
About CapeCod.com NewsCenter
