Introducing Pamela….Our First Satellite Turtle of the 2018 Season! by Dean Bagley (modified by Becky Aud)
Introducing Pamela, our first turtle of the 2018 season to receive a satellite tracking tag! Pamela was named in memory of Pamela J. Osborne of Hastings, Nebraska. Ms. Osborne requested that donations be made to STPS upon her passing, and in turn, STPS honored Ms. Osborne by naming this special turtle after her.
Pamela was released just after sunrise on Friday, June 15 in Melbourne Beach, just south of Sandy Shoes Resort. The tracking tag transmitter was sponsored by the Sea Turtle Preservation Society of Melbourne Beach (STPS) and enables University of Central Florida (UCF) to use Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite technology to track her movements anywhere on earth.
Pamela was originally tagged by the UCF group in 2012 using traditional tagging methods, and was seen again in 2016. Thanks to UCF students Chris and Taylor for finding the turtle, to UCF interns Tori, Tamara, Sarah and Sam for their assistance and to Janet Hochella and Jim Stevenson for their help in getting this tag deployed.
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| STPS Board Member, Noelle Villaneuva and Dean Bagley of UCF with Pamela as she makes her way back to the water on June 15, 2018. Photo by Jim Stevenson. |
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| Pamela returning to the water with GPS transmitter attached. Photo by Jim Stevenson. |
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| Map of Pamela’s GPS data movement from June 15 through June 19, 2018. |
