SWANSEA, Wales, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Researchers in Wales are working to determine if leatherback turtles are a British, rather than Caribbean, species, the BBC reported Monday.
The debate started in 1988 when the world's largest leatherback turtle washed ashore on a Welsh beach. The 9-foot creature was found more than 4,700 miles from its birthplace in the West Indies, and weighed more than 2,000 pounds. It had drowned after being snagged on a fishing line.
Following the discovery, marine ecologists at Swansea University and University College Cork used satellite-tracking systems to follow 10 leatherbacks from their nesting sites in the tropics.
Contrary to expectations, the tracking showed the turtles did not stay long in the Caribbean, but spent most of their time in food-rich northern waters, including those around the British Isles.
Peter Richardson of the Marine Conservation Society said he hopes the research will lead to leatherbacks being re-classified as British/Irish, which would improve the species' chances of survival, with tougher conservation legislation.
