Aitkanti, the leatherback turtle

Aitkanti, the leatherback turtle from Suriname travels to Europe in one year

This amazing story begins more than one year ago. Leatherbacks, Dermochelys coriacea, are the world’s largest marine turtles. They are known to travel long distances to feed and nest. Suriname, along with its neighboring territories of Guyana and French Guiana is home to the largest nesting populations of leatherbacks in the Atlantic.

During the months of February and August, these gentle giants visit the beaches in Suriname, French Guiana and Guyana, to nest, that is, to lay eggs. About 60 days later, if left undisturbed, these eggs hatch and baby turtles emerge and return to the sea. Often, the turtles are not seen again for many years until they return to the same beach on which they were born, to lay their own eggs. Little is known about the life habits of the adults or hatchlings once they leave the nesting beach.

On 25 June 2005, a team of scientists from WWF Guianas and WWF-UK in collaboration with scientists from the Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC), in an attempt to monitor the movement of leatherbacks after nesting, equipped two nesting females with satellite transmitters on the Samsambo and Babunsanti beaches in the Galibi Nature reserve.

The two turtles were named, Aitkanti and Kawana in recognition of their Surinamese ancestry. Satellite transmitters send signals to receivers in space so that every time a turtle surfaces whilst swimming her location can be determined. Unfortunately shortly after the deployment of the transmitter, Kawana drowned in a gillnet just of the coast of Suriname and washed ashore dead. It proves that these transmitters do not protect turtles from their main man-induced threats.

The journey of Aitkanti has been remarkable so far. As she left the Guianas coast, she swam across the Atlantic arriving at the west coast of Africa by late December. From January until July 2006 Aitkanti traveled north along the West -African coast, most-likely feeding on jelly fish. Then by 10 October she was swimming towards the coast of France. Aitkanti is now sending a strong signal from the coast of Wales searching for food, less than 200 miles of the coast of England. It is likely that she will swim into the Irish Sea in searching for jellyfish that are in abundance off the coast of Wales - such as Carmarthen Bay.

Aitkanti has traveled from the beach in Suriname to the shores of Wales approximately 11,500 kilometers across the Atlantic - the equivalent to a quarter of the way around the world, since she was tagged in Suriname with a satellite transmitter. The leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea) are the only turtle species to have adapted to life in cold waters which possible explains why they can be spotted in the frigid Welsh waters.

Dr. Marie-Louise Felix, WWF Guianas regional marine turtle coordinator said: "We are very pleased to see that Aitkanti is still transmitting. When we equipped her with the transmitter, we could only hope that we would get some information from her, but now after more than one year we are learning more about her journey, foraging grounds and other aspects of her life. We are also very happy to see that Aitkanti has so far been able to avoid the fate of her colleague, Kawana. We can only hope that Aitkanti will continue to avoid the survival threats that all turtles face when out at sea".

The threats that humans pose to marine turtles in the Guianas are the destruction and pollution of nesting beaches, illegal egg harvesting (poaching), consumption and trade of the meat and incidental catch in gillnets. Fisheries bi-catch is responsible for the death of thousands of marine turtles annually, both in and out of Suriname waters. The WWF Guianas marine turtle conservation program focuses its conservation efforts to reducing both land and ocean threats to marine turtles.

The beaches of the Guianas are seen as the last paradise for nesting leatherbacks. We must keep these grounds intact in order for the leatherback to have a safe haven and for us and our children to enjoy these magnificent creatures for a long time.