However, often there is no real question being asked, and turtles are tagged simply because tagging is thought to be an integral part of a monitoring project. Tagging for no defined reason, also termed the Tagging Reflex by Mrosovsky (1983), should be avoided. In other cases, the questions are sometimes too complex to be answered by basic tagging protocols. For instance, it is difficult to estimate survivorship of reproductive females using tags because of the problem of tag loss. Traditionally, researchers have categorized as "dead" those turtles that were tagged but were never seen again. However, other possible explanations exist for not observing the turtle, including the following: the tags simply fell off, the observers failed to find the tags, the turtle returned to a different beach to nest, the turtle returned to nest at a time when there were no observers on the beach. Software packages have been developed to take into account tag loss and other complicating factors in the estimation of survivorship of marked animals, although few of these packages appear to be adequately tailored to the specifics of the natural history sea turtle. A list of software available for analyzing tagging data is available here: http://www.phidot.org/software/mark/. Also be sure to look at some of the references in the tagging bibliography for more details on analyzing tagging data.

The analysis of telemetry and tracking data is also complex and is no doubt a rapidly developing discipline. Particular problems and aspects that have been addressed by innovative analyses and treatments include the following:

What can be inferred when locations are generally of classes of lower accuracy?

How can one filter the location data to exclude the most unreliable data points in an objective manner?

How can one reliably assess minimum speed of movement between two points? See tagging bibliography. Once transmitters are deployed the data they generate can be at times overwhelming; be prepared! As with any study, it is important to make sure that you will be able to answer the questions you are posing with the equipment you are using. It is our experience that most of the workers involved with the tracking of marine turtles are open to sharing information regarding the relative benefits and drawbacks of different pieces of equipment and ways to interpret the data generated by transmitters. There is no substitute for reading published papers and we direct you to the significant collection of literature in the tagging bibliography. For more information, you should contact the authors for copies of their papers. They will be flattered.