The Gulf's Great Turtle Relocation Project 104
An anonymous reader writes "All along the Gulf Coast's beaches it's turtle-hatching season. Conservationists knew the poor hatchlings wouldn't have a chance if they swam out into the oily waters of the Gulf, so they came up with an incredibly ambitious plan: they would dig up 70,000 turtle eggs, carefully raise them in a climate-controlled hanger at the Kennedy Space Center, and release the hatchlings into the clean Atlantic waters off Florida's east coast. Now that project is well underway, and Discover Magazine has pictures of the first batch of hatchlings crawling toward the welcoming waves. But there's a chance all this do-gooding won't do any good. New Scientist found experts who argue that releasing them into the Atlantic rather than into the Gulf will screw up the turtles' navigation systems, which will prevent them from following their normal migratory routes."
It's spelled with an 'a', dammit (Score:4, Informative)
That's hangar [reference.com], not hanger [reference.com]. Like with separate, it's annoying how few people manage to get it right...
Not Clear We'll Know the Outcome (Score:3, Informative)
Nowhere have I seen any information about tagging the turtles to monitor their progress. It might be impossible given their small size at birth in comparison to their adult size, and the fact that this population takes about 18 years to reach sexual maturity. The LAT has a few more details: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-turtles-20100715,0,2244379.story [latimes.com]
Duh? (Score:4, Informative)
The same species that nest in the Gulf also nest on the East Coast of Florida which is oil free. The real issue is whether the built in homing instinct for nesting will be to the original nest or to the transplant nest from which they emerge. I have no knowledge of whether the issue has ever been studied. Either way it is still a big problem as the East Coast breeding grounds may not support additional nests as over population and erosion take their toll on natural conditions.