By Sarah Lagan
Published Aug 19, 2015 at 8:00 am (Updated Aug 19, 2015 at 10:42 am)

Start of something big: Close to 90 green turtle eggs were found in St George’s.

A bounty of almost 90 hatched green sea turtle eggs has been discovered at the site of what is believed to be the first on-Island hatchlings for 100 years.

The news comes after some 11 baby turtles were found wandering on or around Buildings Bay, St George’s — believed to be the result of a translocation project conducted here between 1968 and 1978 when eggs from Costa Rica were buried in the area.

It was hoped that the emerging hatchlings would imprint on Bermuda and return in their maturity.

Aquarium principal curator Ian Walker said that the timing appears to be right for those turtles to have returned and laid their own eggs at the site and DNA testing on two hatchlings that died will provide conclusive evidence.

A hatchling born in Bermuda takes to the ocean

Mr Walker told The Royal Gazette: “Our guys have been on the beach every night and this morning [yesterday] I got a call saying no more turtles had emerged, so I gave permission to one of our aquarists and one of our other people who have been working with us to start a gentle excavation on the nest. They dug down and found two hatchlings that were almost at the surface so we put them into the water. Then, when they dug down further, they found 87 eggs. Four eggs were in pieces and three were infertile. Some went the wrong way but we haven’t found any more so we think most made it to the ocean.

“Hopefully this is the start of something big. If these are the result of the conservation work, we may see others coming back. We have been looking for a while and this is about the right amount of time for the original ones to get to maturity and return. It would be huge for Bermuda because it means the start of a standing population here whereas before they were all visitors from the Caribbean.

“From the standpoint of conservation biology it means we don’t just have a maturing ground in Bermuda but we have a breeding ground and that is a big deal.”

What a find: Two of the hatchlings

This all came about on Sunday when Frank Burchall found a baby turtle crossing the road near the beach. He took it to the aquarium where the hatchling was described as the Island’s “natural history event of the century”.

Aquarium staff went to Buildings Bay where eventually some 11 hatchlings were found. The beach was closed to the public but when very few emerged the nest excavation was authorised.

The Bermuda Zoological Society’s Bermuda Turtle Project is led locally by Jennifer Gray — former head aquarist at the aquarium. Drs Peter and Anne Meylan head up the scientific programme. They are being supported by Robert Hardy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission who is in charge of the satellite telemetry programme and Emma Harrison, scientific director at the Sea Turtle Conservancy.

The aquarium has six international students this year from Aruba, Belgium, Panama, Britain, Costa Rica, and Spain as well as four Bermudian students.

This is the longest-running study of green sea turtles in the world and the restocking of sea turtles in the late ‘60s was sponsored by the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, now the Sea Turtle Conservancy.

Mr Walker added: “The work done By David Wingate, James Burnett-Herkes and Clay Frick back in the late ‘60s may be coming to fruition and this is a huge deal. This is a momentous occasion for Bermuda and conservation in general.”