Fish Cay

I was invited to go along on a turtling trip today. The destination was Fish Cay (a small island South of here frequented by the fishermen) and Middle Reefs (a series of patch reefs between Long Cay and Six Hills Cay). I got the day started early and was down at the dock waiting a few minutes before the arranged time (8am) this morning. In typical island fashion, though, we set out around 10:30 after running several of errands.

The boat was called "El Cacique" (or "The Chief")

The wind was out of the West today, so the water was very flat behind Long Cay. When we were passing through, I was hoping so much that we'd see the whales. We were in one of the DECR boats instead of one the School's boats, so our range wouldn't have been so limited. I kept an eye out all day, but unfortunately we didn't see them.

The water didn't stay flat all day though, and made much of the ride quite jarring as a result. It wasn't possible to stand (which allows you to absorb much of the shock in your legs), so I just had to sit tight was the boat slammed against the waves.

When we arrived at Fish Cay we went to shore briefly to check for nests. The Turks and Caicos isn't a very popular nesting area (likely due to over-harvesting in the past), but there are a few beaches that are regular nesting sights. I didn't know it until today, but adult females can lay eggs as many as 8 times a year. Though, most years they do it far fewer times and often not at all.

We didn't find any nests, but we did find some tourists that came over for the day from the nearby (and privately owned) Big Ambergris Cay. I bet they came halfway across the world (on a private jet, no doubt) to have that beach to themselves, and there we came trudging over the hill salty and disheveled. You wouldn't have believed the number of diamonds this lady had on her finger - an essential accessory of sunbathing.

We "manta towed" around Fish Cay for a couple hours. I was a little wary of manta towing in that area because of the reputation it has for sharks. The fishermen claim to see Tiger Sharks around there, and it was there that the recent attack happened. Being pulled around by a boat makes you feel a lot like bait. Luckily we didn't see anything more than a Nurse Shark (which do not have teeth and are not predators). We did see lots of Eagles Rays though (which, of course, are harmless).

I had 4 turtle sightings (all Hawksbills) and we had 2 captures. The two that got away may have just been one that got away twice - it was a fairly big Hawksbill both times. I captured the first one (the smallest of them all) with ease. It could barely swim faster than me with it's tiny little flippers. It only took about 10 seconds to get him.

My little Hawksbill. We'll call him Felipe.

The other one that we caught at Fish Cay was also a small Hawksbill, but he really ran for it. He was also in much deeper water, so getting to him was much more difficult. We slipped free from each of our hands once and really tired us out before Tom finally brought him to the surface.

Tom's Hawksbill. We'll call him Manuel.
(Hawksbills often have dirty, algae covered shells).

We wrapped things up at Fish Cay and headed over to Middle Reefs. It's not far from Six Hills Cay (which from our angle looked more like 7 or 8 Hills Cay). I'd never been to that area before. Visibility was quite bad today (likely due to the Westerly wind), but it's probably usually really nice. We only had 1 sighting there, but it was a successful capture. Tom nabbed a little Green that was not much bigger than the one Jessee got last week.

Tom's Green. We'll call him Gustavo.

Releasing Gustavo
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx68ajLMNWM)

Turtle Tagging

We had the chance to do some more turtle capturing today. This time Jessee got to bring one in. The group got three in all - two small Greens and one big Hawksbill. Jessee spotted the Hawksbill first and called us over for the chase. And chase we did! We were after it for probably 50 minutes or more. The water was really rough and Jessee and I followed it from one end of the bay clear across to the other side. The big ones can go longer without getting tired because it takes them less effort to move a given distance. I got really tired and called to the boat to shuttle me ahead. Jessee kept on its tail and kept on eye on it.

It was heading out towards deep water, so I dove down in front of it and tried to scare it back in the other direction, but it was determined to get out there. It was around this point that Jessee looked to her side to see a Hammerhead. A Hammerhead! I was oblivious. I didn't even know about it until well after things settled down. She says it was a really small one, a juvenile less than a meter long, and that it took a few seconds for her to realize what she was looking at. She kept her eye on the prize, however, and kept following the turtle.

At this point we'd been giving chase for quite a while and were completely knackered (so was the turtle though). I decided to call to our boat to radio the other boat for assistance. It's a good thing too. Jessee really needed a break. By this time the turtle had made it to significantly deeper water (about 30 ft) and wasn't far from drop-off. Fortunately John, a practiced free diver and the fastest swimmer of us all, arrived with the other boat and took over. It took him another 15 minutes or so, but he finally got it. He was in water well over 100 feet deep and just waited at the surface until it had to come up for air. When it started coming, he dove down and grabbed on. He didn't say, but it must have taken him for a ride. It was so big that it wouldn't have been possible to overpower it in the water. The only thing you can do is hold on and point its head where you want to go. You face the head upwards and it brings you up for air. Then you just have to keep its front flippers out of the water until the boat gets there - easier said than done when the water is as rough as it was and turtle is as heavy as it was (it weighted 32.5kg, about 71lbs.!). But we got there quickly enough with the boat to get it on board. In the process though, it bit John and nearly got a couple more of us. It wasn't major, but these big turtles can really do damage if they try.

Back at the Dock

The Hawksbill had a strange spike in it's neck as if it had mistakenly swallowed something sharp. It was old, though, because the skin was completely healed around it.

We removed it and cleaned the wound.

Measurements

We took this one to the dock straight away to take measurements and samples. I stayed to help with that and the others went back out in search of more. They eventually came back with two little Greens, one of which Jessee spotted, chased down, and caught all on her own!

"Pearl" - Jessee's little Green

Pearl weighed less than 5 lbs!

Waiting to go home.

The other little Green was missing a back flipper. It's not uncommon to see turtles missing limbs, but this one looked like a birth defect rather than a wound because there was no scaring.

Without ever trying it, you'd think there'd be no way humans could keep pace with a sea turtle. And certainly when they sprint we can't, but we're surprisingly good at out running them over long distances (especially if you can keep them come coming up for air that often). I once heard a story on NPR about humans being particularly well adapted for running marathons and, in fact, can even out run horses in a distance race. The same goes for sea turtles, I guess.

The Release

p.s. If you've been wondering about Suzie, she's still at home in the Black Rocks Bay area of East Caicos. I've been checking her location periodically to see if she's coming down to visit South.

Turtling

This morning we went turtling. The students had an exam and the turtle researchers were in need of some assistance, so most of the staff went out to help. We took both of our remaining boats in search of turtles in the harbor. One boat used the "Manta Tow" method (where you get pulled behind the boat until you spot a turtle) and the other group just went snorkeling around.

Manta Towing

Jessee and I were in the snorkeling group. I preferred that because I really need the exercise these days. Basically we just swam around until somebody spotted one and then we all gave chase, using the boat to ferry snorkelers ahead. It's works sort of like a relay race until the turtle is so tired it can't run anymore. At that point it usually sits on the bottom and we're able to dive down and grab it.

The snorkeling group managed to get two and the Manta Tow group got one - two Hawksbills and a Green (it's a shame we weren't after Eagle Rays because there were loads of them). I made my first capture using this method, though the credit is mostly due to John who is incredibly good at swimming after and wearing the turtles out. He let me get one of them anyway. I dove down and grabbed on on the first try, but I also got hold of a clump of soft corals. I let go with that hand to release the coral and the turtle wiggled loose. Fortunately it was very tired and didn't make it far before settling on the bottom again. This time it cleverly nestled into a patch of fire coral. I dove down again, but reached for it cautiously so as not to be stung by the coral, and it got away again! It wasn't until my fourth attempt that I managed to hold on and bring it to the surface.

Success!

Struggling on the Surface (both of us!)

HELP!

On the Boat

It was a lot of fun to get out and spend the morning in the water. Jessee really enjoyed it too - she was commenting how she rarely has time to get out there anymore. It makes a big difference to have something out of the routine.

The Day's Catch: 2 Hawksbills & 1 Green
(Don't worry, putting them on their backs doesn't hurt them! It actually calms them down and keeps them from crawling around and getting into trouble)

Suzie's Home!

As of Saturday, Suzie is back in TCI waters! After traveling more than 5900km (I over estimated a little last time), she's managed to find her way back to the place she started. She spent the last two weeks at the Inagua Islands. Right now she's in waters off of North Caicos, and it appears she'll be back to East Caicos, exactly where she started, soon.

Local Map of Suzie's Journey

It's amazing that turtles can navigate such distances and finally make their way back to an exact location. It's like setting off on foot across the country with no maps, road signs, or ability to ask for directions and then making it back to your house without help.

Suzie's Entire Journey

She's passing around the north end of the Caicos Bank so, unfortunately, she's not going to come in range of us. I really wanted to go looking for her with her GPS coordinates. Maybe she'll come by later on - her GPS tag is going to remain on.

What's Suzie Doing?

Everybody was pretty sure Suzie was on the final leg of her journey, soon to return to TCI waters, but now she's in the Bahamas. She's traveled something in the range of 6000 km and visited many countries.

Suzie's Track

As she approached the southwest corner of Hispaniola in December, there was a lot of excitement that she might be home for Christmas (read about it in the news: http://www.tcweeklynews.com/link.asp?smenu=85&sdetail=1798&wpage=1). But she turned east instead of traveling between Haiti and Cuba directly to the Turks and Caicos. There was some fear for her safety in Haitian waters as the turtle fishery is quite large there. Social tensions bubbled to the surface as TCI Belongers warned of backlash towards Haitian expats living on South Caicos if she went missing in Haitian waters. We joked that it was going to incite an international incident and cause rioting on South. More than likely it was all talk, but it demonstrates the real interest local people have taken in her and the affection they have for her. I don't think anybody anticipated the level of awareness and local pride Suzie would generate, especially among people who routinely eat turtles.

The fisherman who caught Suzie (originally intending to make a meal out of her) is particularly proud, and he often jokes that if he had known that she'd become so famous, he would have demanded more money for her.

After heading east along the southern coast of Hispaniola, Suzie rounded the corner and picked up her pace. Keeping a close eye on her progress, we were pretty sure she had finally found her way and was headed directly back home. In fact, if she had continued that path and speed, she probably would have arrived today. She's currently off the coast of Great Inauga, Bahamas and, according the project webpage, the researchers are speculating that she might need to be down current of the TCI to detect them. Will she be home soon?

Project Page: http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=398

Rodeo at the Blue Hole

Today Jessee and I went on a "turtle rodeo." That's the name the turtle researchers have given to a particular method of capturing turtles. The way it works is you drive the boat around in prime turtle habitat with as many people as possible acting as spotters. When a turtle is spotted you follow it in the boat to tire it out. Once it comes up for a breath or two it's pretty much knackered and will sit nearly motionless on the bottom. Then one person dives in head-first and grabs on. Pretty exciting! Some are better at it than others. Gilbert, a local fisherman and project assistant, can get them on the first try nearly every time. Jessee and I took 4 and 5 tries each before getting ours!

Crossing the Caicos Bank

The researchers wanted to target Green Turtles today, so we chose to go to habitat that is ideal for them. They mostly graze on seagrass and there is a great spot to find them around the Middle Caicos "Blue Hole." The Blue Hole is a collapsed underwater cave. It's on the bank side of the Middle Caicos (the shallow side opposite the open ocean), so the water is only about 4 or 5 feet deep around it. The hole itself, however, drops straight down to about 200 feet. It's a pretty famous place. In fact, according to one of the researchers, it was explored by Jacques Cousteau. Green Turtles like it there because the hole is a safe place to hide and provides easy access to the seagrass beds.


View Middle Caicos - Blue Hole in a larger map.
(http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&source=embed&msa=0&msid=104781959957579632954.00047adff0bb53528862e&ll=21.729524,-71.799431&spn=0.149577,0.308647&z=12)
Immediately upon arriving at the hole we spotted our first turtle - a huge Green! We turned quickly and tried to cut it off from the hole, just a second too late. It ducked under the boat and disappeared into the deep. There was no hope of getting that one unless it came out on its own. They need to be up on the bank in the shallow water for the rodeo method to work.

Gilbert rode on the bow of the boat where he could get a better vantage. From there he was able to spot them long before we ever could. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with it, but maybe we weren't as good at catching them because we weren't dressed in the proper turtle-catching attire. He was wearing a pair of old whitie-tighties and one rubber dishwashing glove!

Gilbert

Of the next four turtles we spotted, he nabbed three. The only one that got away made a quick maneuver under the sun's glare and we lost its trail. The first two were young Greens, and the third was a massive adult Hawksbill.

Gilbert catching turtles.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvFcVpxc39k)

Green #1: measuring curved carapace width.

Almost time for release.

A Monster Hawksbill - in the range of 30 years old and in egg bearing condition.

Measuring curved carapace width. It took a little weight on her back to keep her from crawling all over the boat.

Ready for release.

Whereas the Greens sat quietly and calmly while we took measurements and DNA samples, the Hawksbill was feisty. It kept flapping around, trying to crawl away, and snapping its jaws. The size of it was quite intimidating. Each time it reached out to bite I was thinking how easily it would be able to take off a finger. When we went to release her, she actually got hold of Dave's foot! Dave (the other fisherman helping us out today) yelped in pain, but luckily the turtle let go without much damage. She could have easily taken out a chunk of meat! You can hear when it happens in the video above. After the fact Dave joked that he wished he had thought to bite her back.

Bite mark on Dave's foot.

Green #2: posing for photos.

Green #2: on its back to measure plastron and tail.

Green #2: measuring curved carapace length.

Shortly after getting her on board, we spotted another small Green. This time it was my turn to try catching it. Gilbert called me up onto the bow and gave me instructions how to do it. He made sure to have Dave, who was driving the boat, follow the turtle for longer to make sure she was extra tired. When the moment was right Gilbert gave me the cue to jump on it. No luck. My hands sunk into the muddy bottom and there was no turtle. Twice, possibly three times, more I missed. On the final attempt I adjusted for refraction, slid my hand back and few inches and got hold! I brought it to the surface and quickly passed her off to the boat. You can hear me struggling to stay above water in the video.

Catching a Green
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPEtON-90as)

Green #3: my catch.

Jessee was up next for our final turtle of the day. She had a little trouble getting hers too, but finally did in the end. She probably would have had it on the first or second jump, but she was trying to be gentle. We didn't want to hurt them, but the truth is they are pretty rugged (as evidenced by the ones we've seen missing flippers and chunks of shell). Jessee's actually had two pieces of shell missing from the back end. They were completely healed, but at one time must have been serious wounds.

Jessee's Turn
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym4PwzigPi4)

Green #4: Jessee's catch.

Green #4: healed wound on rear of shell.

It was a great day out on the water and the best way we could have spent our last day before break. Tomorrow morning is our flight back to the States. We're headed to Florida first, then Philadelphia, Maryland, and New York. Jessee's also planning to spend a day in Boston with her sister. We're probably not going to keep up the blog while we're away, but we'll start again when we return on 2 January.

"Where Suzie at Now?!"

When Suzie the sea turtle started her journey out of the TCI, people in town were abuzz. They'd often call out, excitedly, to the researchers "where Suzie at now?!" Supposedly there were even some fears that Suzie was being controlled through the GPS tag on her back and being sent away to waters where turtle fishing is illegal. The interest in Suzie has subsided a little, but people on the island keep up-to-date on her whereabouts through bulletins posted at various shops and public buildings. She's gone quite a distance. For a while, she was headed in the direction of South America, and they thought she might go to Venezuela to nest.


But now she's taken a more easterly heading and is almost smack in the middle of the Caribbean. One of the researchers was worried she might now go to Nicaragua, where they "put away" 10,000 turtles every year. Hopefully, though, if she is spotted by a hunter, they'll have the courtesy to let her be because of her tag.


There other four GPS tagged turtles in TCI (Tom, Jerry, Deep, and Jewel) have remained local. I'm hoping Suzie will return, especially if she comes nearby, because we ought to be able to use GPS to find her.

Bush Cay

Our visiting researchers departed last Thursday, and I thought I'd get a little down time. I had been so busy collecting fish with them two, sometimes three, times a day. I enjoyed every minute of it, but I was exhausted. Almost right away, however, I got an offer to go with the resident turtle researchers to the far away Bush Cay to check on nesting sites, and I couldn't turn it down.

Map of Bush Cay

Bush Cay

Bush Cay is about as far south in TCI as you can go before ending up in Hispaniola. It took a couple hours to get there by boat. It's a tiny speck of an island, but has about 75 yards of nice sandy beach - prime real estate for turtle nesting. And the beach was covered in tracks. So many that even the most experienced person with us had trouble discerning which turtles had gone where. In all I think we counted 9 individual sets of tracks, including positive nesting sites and a few "false crawls," the oldest being about 30 days and the newest about 1 day. You can actually determine the species that came onto the beach as well. Hawksbills (and the less common Loggerhead) leave tracks with an alternating flipper pattern, whereas Greens leave a symmetrical pattern. Nests can be somewhat difficult to locate, even with tracks, because the turtles cover them well and even attempt to mislead you by leaving tracks to nowhere.

Tracks

Nests that have hatched are slightly more apparent because they are collapsed, leaving a funnel shape above them. We found one of these and decided to excavate - important information about the success of a nest can be gathered that way. We counted the total number of empty shells and the number of early-, mid-, and late-stage undeveloped eggs. This particular nest had a relatively high percentage of undeveloped eggs, leading our researcher to wonder if it had actually been two nests, one right on top of the other and one disrupted by the other. I'm not sure if that is common or if it says something about the availability of nesting sites in the area.

Excavating

Late Stage Undeveloped, gross and stinky!

On the way to and from Bush Cay we passed the Ambergris Cays - one of which (Little Ambergris) is an iguana reserve and the other of which (Big Ambergris) is a privately-owned island and extremely high-end resort: the Turks and Caicos Sporting Club. Their website invites you to "make it yours" with "seaview homesites from $650,000 to $6.5 million USD." We actually docked there at lunch, and one of people in charge of activities invited us to eat there anytime we were in the area if we just called ahead, slyly adding that some of his guests would be really interested to see (and presumably handle and photograph) the turtles we often capture (we had a small Hawksbill on board that we had just caught at a nearby patch reef).

Hawksbill

On the way back we stopped at Fish Cay (the site of regular South Caicos spearfishing the recent shark attack) to check for more tracks and catch any turtles we could. Almost right away we spotted a small Green Turtle from the boat and jumped in after it. Marta (an SFS staffer) and I chased it for a long time before it was tired enough for us to grab it. Well, before it was tired enough for Marta to grab it - I was considerably more tired than it was. The water was pretty deep, so our strategy was to swim above it until it needed air. Unfortunately, it still managed to surface three or four times for a short gasp before we were successful. This one had an especially nice shell.

Green Turtle

We then spent the remainder of the afternoon "Manta towing" around the bay in search of more turtles (a.k.a. we got dragged around by the boat with our snorkel gear). It's usually pretty fun to do that, but I was on there way too long and had breathed too much engine exhaust. You also get surprisingly chilly even in 90 degree water if you stay long enough without actually swimming.

Barcode of Life

I've written a lot about the fish collection process (and about the reservations I have had with it), but not that much about why it's being done. The samples that have been collected here are part of the much larger "Barcode of Life" project. The idea is to catalog every living species in the world with a genetic "barcode." Once it's complete, you will be able to take a sample of any living organism, run it through the barcode process, and get a positive taxonomic identification output. It is different from a genome (where the entire genetic code of an organism is sequenced). Instead, only enough genes to identify the organism are sequenced (saving time and money). But what good is it to be able to identify species in this way? The benefit of having a database of genetic "barcodes" may not be obvious (it wasn't for me).


The truth is, I'm not really all that familiar with the project. I can, however, share some of what I've learned about it in the last few days. First of all, it will be useful in the enforcement of some environmental regulations. Enforcement agencies can (and actually already are) using it to crack down on the illegal fish and "bush meat" trade. For example, just before our Smithsonian visitors came here the director of the project was sent a fillet of fish by the government body that regulates the fish trade (the EPA or FDA?), seized from a distributor suspected of selling an endangered species. By running a sample through the test, he identified the species from an otherwise indistinguishable fillet and informed the regulators whether or not any laws were being broken. In that particular case, it turned out that endangered fish was not being sold (though, I think some labeling laws were probably broken).

Also, the barcode project has been extraordinarily effective if identifying new species. Currently, most taxonomic identification is a visual process. Humans have to physically look at organisms and distinguish them by their anatomy and markings. And humans, of course, make a lot of mistakes. Species can look the same, but be genetically very different. An example is the recently discovered species of Soapfish I mentioned in an earlier post.

Rypticus subbifrenatus

Rypticus sp.

Both of these photos are from the same field ID guide, improperly listed as color variations of the same species. Actually, they are genetically quite different.

Another area where it has been helpful is in the identification of species throughout their lifecycles. Fishes, in particular, can vary dramatically as they transition from larval, through juvenile, intermediate, and terminal phases. I always wondered how anybody ever knew, for example, a juvenile Smooth Trunkfish was actually a Smooth Trunkfish. They don't look anything alike. In the past it required identifying enough specimens in transition to reveal the link or (believe it or not) raising them in captivity and observing the transition! I was told that they are finding that numerous species previously thought to be unique are simply juvenile phases of other known fish. Since genetic code remains the same no matter what phase the species is in, they can always be identified by their genetic barcode.

Juvenile Phase

Terminal Phase

Okay, they resemble each other a little in the photos, but in real life making the connection is much more difficult.

Probably the most exciting application for the barcode of life (at least in my opinion) is still many years from actually being available. I think of it as sort of a field ID "iPhone application," or something like a Star Trek "tri-corder" for identifying species. It would be a handheld genetic sequencer that could instantly pull up all sorts of pertinent information on whatever living thing you can manage to get your hands on (probably easier to use with plants than most animals). I imagine amateur naturalists of the future carrying around these things in place of the visual ID books we use now. It sounds like something that belongs in science fiction, but it turns out that small field sequencers already exist for scientists, and the director of the Smithsonian lab predicts that a consumer friendly version is probably only 10 years away. Once this technology is out there, its potential is huge (Imagine you're a researcher interested in a rare insect. You flag it in the barcode database to be notified each time the record is accessed, an amateur naturalist finds it in the field an runs it through the sequencer out of curiosity, he or she gets all the information they are interested in as well as a personal message from you asking them to collect the data necessary for your research. It's collaborative research taken to a whole new level. It's like wikipedia on steroids).

The Barcode project promises a lot of very exciting things, the extent of which has probably yet to be conceived. Knowing just some of its potential makes me glad that I got the chance to be part of it, if even in the smallest way.