Southern California Sea Turtle Monitoring Project
Volunteer community scientists collect field data for a local Pacific green sea turtle population with the Aquarium of the Pacific’s Southern California Sea Turtle Monitoring Project.
The San Gabriel River watershed is the northernmost known home for Pacific green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). The Aquarium’s involvement began in 2008 with volunteers gathering data on the population for a small research project. Then in 2012 the Aquarium partnered with the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority, Tidal Influence, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service conservation and wildlife management groups to learn more. Community scientists volunteer with the Aquarium to collect observational data on these turtles through the Southern California Sea Turtle Monitoring Project. The data collected is recorded and used to understand how many individual sea turtles might be living in the San Gabriel River and to help with additional tracking, protection, and monitoring efforts.
Green sea turtles can grow up to 4 feet long, weigh up to 440 pounds, and live as long as eighty years. They live in tropical and subtropical waters around the world. They are herbivores and primarily eat seagrass, but as juveniles may eat sea jellies and other invertebrates.
