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Marine Turtle Newsletter 68:18-19, © 1995

The First Sea Turtle Tagging Efforts in Chile

José Luis Brito Montero
Museo Minicipal de Ciencias Naturales y Arquelogía de San Antonio, Casilla 93 Lllo-lleo, San Antonio, Chile

As part of the activities of the Programa de Investigación del Museo Municipal de Ciencias Naturales y Arqueología de San Antonio (Research Program of the San Antonio Municipal Museum of Natural Sciences and Archeology), there is a project referred to as "Monitoreo de Enmallamientos de Tortugas Marinas en la costa Central de Chile" (Monitoring of Sea Turtle Entanglements along the central coast of Chile). On February 2nd and 7th, 1993, respectively, this project documented two female olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) stranded alive on a beach in Punta Toro (33°46'S). The turtles were taken to the Museum in the port city of San Antonio (33°35'S) where they remained in captivity for a few days while receiving veterinary care. Both turtles (24 and 28 kg) appeared exhausted and were given intramuscular injections of vitamins and antibiotics before being transferred to pools to rest. Epibionts were collected and scale characteristics were noted and photographed. Both turtles were tagged on the posterior edge of the front left flipper using steel Monel cattle tags (4.2 cm long). The tags are inscribed: MUSEO DE SAN ANTONIO-CHILE I and MUSEO DE SAN ANTONIO- CHILE II, respectively.

The turtles were released on 4 and 9 February, 20 miles northwest of the Port of San Antonio, from a Chilean Navy patrol boat. These tagging efforts and rescues constitute in the first case, the first for Chile and in the second case, one of the few which have occurred in this country. We hope that information about these tagged turtles will be forthcoming in the future. Recapture data can be very informative. Four leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) tagged elsewhere have been recaptured in Chilean waters. One was tagged in Mexico and drowned by a purse seine in 1988 at Isla Mocha (38°30'S, 75°45'W), a second Mexican-tagged leatherback was recaptured in a gillnet off San Antonio (33°30'S, 71°30'W) in 1992 (Marquez and Villanueva 1993), a leatherback carrying a Costa Rican tag was recaptured near Valdivia (39°40'S) between January and March 1988 (Chandler 1991), and a second leatherback carrying a Costa Rican tag was recaptured west of Coquimbo (30°S) between 28 August and 15 September 1991.

Chandler, M. 1991. New records of sea turtles in Chile. Marine Turtle Newsletter 52:8-11.

Marquez M., R. and A. Villanueva O. 1993. First report of leatherback sea turtles tagged in Mexico and recaptured in Chile. Marine Turtle Newsletter 61:9.