Assessing Sea Turtles

August 5–11, 2024

A loggerhead sea turtle being released from the side of a boat into the ocean.
Photo: Force Blue

In August 2024, a team of Force Blue Special Operations veterans volunteered in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to assist the sanctuary and InWater Research Group scientists with sea turtle research. The goal of the mission was to capture, measure, and tag, as many adult and juvenile green and loggerhead sea turtles as possible, as well as to check them for signs of the tumor-causing disease, fibropapillomatosis, and transfer infected turtles to a facility for immediate emergency care.

How Do Scientists Catch Sea Turtles?

A group of people on a boat carefully release a large sea turtle into the water. One person is leaning over the side, guiding the turtle, while another stands nearby
After assessing, measuring, and tagging a sea turtle, the team then releases them safely back into the ocean. Photo: Force Blue
A group of five people on a boat with a large loggerhead sea turtle.
Force Blue veterans and InWater Research Group pose together with a loggerhead sea turtle after successfully tagging the animal and completing a health assessment. The animal was deemed to be healthy and released back to the ocean. Photo: Force Blue

Sea turtles spend most of their lives at sea. In order to study them, researchers must either get into the water or find a way to catch the turtles to assess them on a boat. Researchers catch sea turtles using a variety of methods, including dip netting, hand-capture, rodeo, and trawling.

A "turtle rodeo" is a technique used to catch juvenile green sea turtles by jumping onto them from a motorvessel. Researchers use this method to study sea turtles and their migration patterns. Here's how it works:

  1. Spot a turtle from aboard the vessel
  2. The captain drives the boat parallel to the turtle
  3. A researcher jumps onto the turtle's shell when it's close enough
  4. More than one researcher helps to lift the turtle into the boat by its front flippers

Video Recap - Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary