Support ORPTrack, Our new satellite tagging programme
Where do our turtle patients go to find food when we release them? Help us find out by supporting ORPTrack, our new satellite tagging programme.
Since 2017, we have released 126 rehabilitated sea turtles from our rescue and rehabilitation centres in the Maldives, most of which were olive ridleys. Olive ridleys, unlike the commonly seen green and hawksbill turtles, spend most of their life in the open ocean. Therefore, we know surprisingly little about them!
ORPTrack, is a scientific research project that will help us gain better understanding of the feeding habits of olive ridley sea turtles. We deployed our first satellite tag on 18 April 2022 and a second on 23 May 2022. Our third tag was fitted on Shara, an adult female olive ridley turtle patient on 1st July 2023. Shara spent just short of six months at the Rescue Centre, having been found floating and unable dive in South Ari Atoll. We then released our fourth satellite tagged sea turtle patient, Muraka, on 17th August 2023. Muraka, a juvenile olive ridley and our 200th patient, had been found floating in North Malé Atoll. After her eight-month long recovery at the Rescue Centre, she was fitted with a satellite tag and released. On 13th September 2023, Hawwa, another juvenile olive ridley, was tagged and released as our fifth ORPTrack sea turtle.
The satellite tags allow us to track the turtles for up to a year and the data gathered from these satellite tags will be consistently monitored, recorded and analysed. The aim is to answer two important questions to fill crucial gaps in sea turtle research and help us plan for future conservation strategies.:
- Where do olive ridley turtles go to feed in the Maldives and in the Indian Ocean as a whole?
- What environmental factors make up a good feeding ground for olive ridleys?
We would like to thank to Legend Bracelets, Marine Life Protectors and Thorsten Albrecht for the initial startup funding for ORPTrack. You too can be part of this exciting new project by donating below. As a supporter of ORPTrack you will receive:
- Regular updates about where our turtles are travelling with maps
- Periodic project updates
- Hot of the press research findings
- A mention on our website as an ORPTrack supporter (if you select to)
We are grateful for any donation we receive – big or small.
Thank you!
