Bob has officially been out at sea for over 60 days now; the Two Oceans Aquarium team celebrated his phenomenal swim on the 28th of March 2023. This is a full update on his progress.
Cape Town, South Africa (02 April 2023) – The 28th of March marked a milestone for Bob the green turtle as the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation and Bob’s supporters celebrated his 60 days, or exactly two months, back in the wild. After exploring the warm waters of the Kwa-Zulu Natal coastline, including the many Marine Protected Areas in the region, Bob found the fast-moving Agulhas Current and rode it all the way back to Cape waters.
After 60 days of exploring the open ocean, Bob rounded the Cape Peninsula and seemed to be on track to pass closely by the Two Oceans Aquarium. But just before reaching his rehabilitation home, he turned west exploring over the Agulhas ridge into the deep blue. In a 60-day adventure of firsts, this is a new breakthrough for Bob as he braves the open ocean swimming in water at a depth spanning 3800m.
Bob’s Wild Journey
After 8 years of rehabilitation at the Two Oceans Aquarium, after being rescued off a beach at De Hoop Nature Reserve, Bob was released into the wild on 27 January 2023 in the uThukela Marine Protected Area just North of Durban. Bob has put his flippers to the test as he is travelling an average of 54km, the equivalent of an ultra-marathon, per day. The latest data showed that he had travelled a total of 2760 km in 56-days swimming along the continental shelf at about 85km offshore. This is an amazing feat given that it took him just five hours by airplane from Cape Town to Durban for his release in January.
Bob quickly found his flippers in the wild and first headed slowly north and a little offshore. He covered an encouraging distance of 3km on that first day of ocean freedom.
“He didn’t take long to get comfortable with his new expansive surroundings, adventuring further north along the coast from Blythedale to Princes Grant tempted by the abundant algal beds along that coastline, he passed the Tugela River into the most protected part of the uThukela Marine Protected Area (MPA).” Said Talitha Nobel, the Turtle Conservation Centre Manager at the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation.
One province and ocean were not enough for Bob’s newfound oceanic freedom. Once he got his fill of the KZN waters, he turned around and headed south. To speed up his southward journey, Bob found the fast Agulhas current and rode it into the Eastern Cape waters passing through various Marine Protected Areas. He sped through the Wildcoast, an especially significant marine environment where unique species found nowhere else in the world thrive due to the northern sub-tropical waters transitioning into the more temperate warm waters of the south.
Showing off his natural green turtle instincts, on his way to rounding the Cape, Bob hugged the edge of the continental shelf into the bordering Western Cape waters. This afforded him the comfort of the warmer waters, and access to plenty of nutrient-rich foods. As if sensing them close by, Bob passed Hermanus 85km offshore, at the same time as the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation Turtle Conservation Team was based in the area for the Turtle Rescue Road trip.
Tracking Bob – ATAP tag:
The Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation have been able to track Bob’s movements thanks to the four different tags he was fitted with: a flipper tag, a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag, an ATAP acoustic tag and a satellite tag. Tagging is a central part of marine science and conservation efforts, allowing researchers to track turtles’ migration patterns, nesting sites, growth rates, and distribution.
Four tags may seem a lot for one turtle, but there are good reasons for this decision, the main one being to create overlap to ensure we gather as much information as possible.
“One of the challenges that we face in the capabilities of the various trackers is that satellite tags have a limited lifespan. While we hope that Bob’s will last for up to two years, there is a real chance that the tag might fall off before then. For this reason, we also equipped Bob with an acoustic tag, which has a battery life of up to 10 years!” said Talitha Nobel.
The acoustic tag on Bob was donated by the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity’s (SAIAB) Acoustic Tracking Array Platform (ATAP) programme. This programme has over 200 acoustic tag receivers all along the coastline from Cape Point to Ponta do Ouro in Mozambique. Over 20 of these receivers in KwaZulu-Natal alone have captured Bob’s transmissions as he passed by. Thanks to this donation, the Aquarium is confident that, if Bob remains coastal, they will be able to follow his movements for a long time! You can read up about acoustic tagging and how it works here: https://www.aquarium.co.za/news/tag-youre-it-the-basics-of-turtle-tagging
As green turtles are known to travel over long distances, we are excited to see where Bob’s travels take him.
Ambassador Bob – The Flipper Effect Campaign
At its core, tagging is about identifying individual turtles. But these individual turtles can tell a much bigger story. Bob has captured the attention of a community of ocean lovers with his ambassadorial message through the Flipper Effect campaign.
This turtle ambassador’s story of resilience served as a cautionary tale, inspiring an ocean community invested in Bob’s story to pay attention to the dangers of human impact on the ocean and the marine species that rely on its ecological health. Under the banner of the Flipper Effect campaign, the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation Turtle Conservation Centre aims to highlight the importance of changing people’s everyday behaviours to make the ocean a safer place from human-caused hazards, such as plastics pollution and fishing nets.
“While we make the effort get the message of the Flipper Effect out there, we need the public’s help to look out for turtle hatchlings stranded on our beaches. Every year stranded hatchling turtles are washed up on Western Cape Beaches between the months of March and June during what we call stranding season. If you come across a hatchling, do not put it back in the water, and please call the Turtle Rescue Hotline 083 300 1663” said Nobel.
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