We received some sad news yesterday. The Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response team responded to a leatherback that had washed up in False Cape State Park in southern Virginia. When they examined the turtle, they found a flipper tag. The tag was traced back to our program and when we looked up the number, we discovered that it was Anastasia. Anastasia was tagged by Rebeccah and I in 2009. She returned this past season and we saw her four times. She seemed to have had a rough life based on various injuries that we noted when we saw her. In 2009, she had a fresh scar around her right front flipper that appeared to have been caused by a line or rope that had become wrapped around her. This past season, we noticed that a good portion of her upper jaw was missing and on one encounter, we removed a small fishing hook from her shoulder. Sadly, when she was encountered in Virginia, she had 5 propeller marks from a very large boat. The stranding team was unable to determine if the boat strike had resulted in her death or had occurred after she died. She is a very sad example of the many threats that turtles face on a daily basis. Debris entanglement/ingestion, boat strikes, and fishing interactions are common causes of injury and death to thousands of turtles each year.
Sadly, Anastasia is the fourth turtle that we’ve tagged that has been found dead. In 2002, Sandy, a turtle that was wearing a GPS transmitter, was found off the coast of New Jersey. Data from the transmitter indicate that she likely drowned in a scallop dredge. This northeast coast is an area of heavy commercial fishing. As our turtles pass through these waters after the nesting season, they must navigate through these busy fishing grounds. Daisy, a turtle we tagged in 2004, was found on Juno Beach in 2006. She had been hit by a boat. Nanelle was found just a month after we tagged her in 2009. She had also been hit by a boat. It’s terribly sad to hear stories of our tagged turtles that have died.
On a positive note, we were able to track four of Anastasia’s nests through their hatch date. She laid a total of 254 eggs in those four nests and 183 of those produced hatchlings. On one of our encounters with Anastasia, we were able to snap a couple of photos. This photo was taken during a full moon. The long exposure allows us to take photos without using flash. I was watching Anastasia as she covered up her nest. One of our favorite things to do is just to sit with the turtles on pretty nights like this. Notice the large number of boats on the horizon. These boats were likely fishing for kingfish. They fish with the moon cycle and on a calm night, you can see hundreds of lights along the horizon. Pretty nights like these when we’re able to just enjoy being on the beach with the turtles remind us of why we do what we do. 
