The VI Sea Turtle Project
The Cyril E. King airport runway was expanded in 1984, finished in 1992, by filling in the bay adjacent to the airport. Named after the second governor of the Virgin Islands it is now a major hub in the Eastern Caribbean servicing 1.4 million people every year. The process of the runway expansion buried a natural coral reef but created a new artificial reef that has become home to more than 50 critically endangered hawksbill turtles. All work is conducted pursuant to a NMFS permit.
Step One:
Is a simple process, we snorkel and free dive three separate locations: Black Point in Brewer's bay (North of the runway), the airport runway, and Lindberg point (the three rock points South of the runway) The hawksbill sea turtles are spotted and there is an attempt to catch them via free diving (look in pics and videos to see actual catches).
It should be noted the runway habitat is artificial and it is beautiful. The complexity of the runway due to its construction created large crevices and holes making them excellend hiding spots for fishes of all sizes and the very turtles we are trying to catch. Tarpon and reef sharks are commonly seen cruising the reef.
Step Two:
When we catch a turtle it is processed. The process consists of giving it a name, being weighed and measured, photographed, flipper tagged, PIT tagged, and a small genetic sample is taken through the use of a biopsy punch. The whole process is relatively quick and is a vital step in their conservation and preservation.
The final step in the tagging process will consist of attaching a small acoustic tag to their shell to track in water movements in an attempt to discover their use of the runway habitat and why it seems so preferable for hawksbill sea turtles.
Step Three:
They're released!!!! All turtles caught by the VI Sea Turtle Project are released in the same condition as they are caught with the addition of identification tags. The identification tags are an important step in their conservation because each time we go out we are looking to catch new turtles but also turtles that have already been tagged. Those turtles previously tagged can help in establishing a baseline for the length of stay in the runway habitat.
To date, we have caught more than 50 hawksbill turtles including some of the smallest hawksbill turtles ever seen by our research team. The evidence is mounting for the Cyril E. King runway in St. Thomas, USVI as a densely populated juvenile and sub adult hawksbill sea turtle habitat.