Pamela still transmitting

By Dean Bagley, UCF Marine Turtle Research Group

Modified by Susan Skinner

Pamela is still transmitting, and here is her most recent map. It is zoomed out a bit so that you could see her surroundings and the relative size of her foraging area in relation to it. As of Feb. 19 at about 8 p.m., she was 9.9 km NE of where Card Sound Road comes into U.S. 1 at Largo. She has been spending most of her time in that spot marked immediately left of the date and time on the map. The size of her foraging area is roughly 6.5 km in diameter. It’s so exciting that she is still transmitting!

For those new to the story, Pamela was the first turtle of the 2018 season to receive a satellite tracking tag. The turtle 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 June 15, 2018, 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. Please check back for continued updates on Pamela.