Scientists deploy first satellite tag on a leatherback sea turtle in Ecuador
- Mar 21
- 5 min read
SAN CLEMENTE, MANABÍ, ECUADOR (21 March 2026) – A team of scientists has successfully satellite tagged the first Eastern Pacific leatherback sea turtle in Ecuador, unlocking critical new data for a population that has declined by more than 98% of historic levels. The information the satellite tags will provide for the species will be invaluable to the wider leatherback conservation community, giving scientists a more detailed understanding of movements specific to this critically endangered subpopulation, of which less than 1,000 individuals remain.
The team decided to affectionately name the first satellite tagged turtle Lucero (Morning Star in English) for the significance of the data her tag will provide for her species in the East Pacific. A Lucero is the first star that appears at night and the last one to remain in the morning, the one that guides a navigator's way.
“Naming her Lucero is deeply meaningful to us,” said Kerly Briones Cedeño, Ingeniera, President & Director General, Fundación Reina Laúd. “Just as the morning star guides those who navigate the ocean, this turtle will help guide our understanding of leatherback movements and the future of their conservation in Ecuador and across the East Pacific. For years, this species was absent from our beaches, and its return already represents hope. Now, through this satellite tag, Lucero becomes a symbol of direction, knowledge, and renewed commitment to protecting this extraordinary species.”
The nesting leatherback was tagged at 3:06AM on March 20, 2026 on Pajonal Beach approximately 5.5 miles south of Bahia de Caraquez. It took fourteen people four days monitoring over 11 kilometers of beach throughout difficult terrain by foot, motorcycle and boat to make sure the turtle could be encountered in time to deploy the tag. Two nonprofit organizations came together to accomplish this feat: Fundacion Reina Laud, who patrols the beaches between Bahia de Caraquez and Crucita daily to monitor for nesting activity, and The Leatherback Project, whose work in Ecuador focuses on protecting leatherbacks at sea through bycatch reduction technology research and implementation. Through Fundacion Reina Laud, led by Kerly Briones, the team was permitted on the beach to interact with the nesting female, and through The Leatherback Project, led by Callie Veelenturf, the team was provided the training, experience, and equipment needed to safely deploy the satellite tag.
Lucero will hopefully be the first of several tagged turtles in the region, as part of a larger study led by marine biologist Callie Veelenturf of The Leatherback Project and funded by the National Geographic Society to better understand critically endangered leatherback turtles in the East Pacific.
“The data collected will provide fishers and scientists with valuable information on leatherback movement patterns and critical habitat use areas, helping to better target conservation efforts,” Veelenturf said. “Ecuador is one of two places in the world where the rights of the leatherback sea turtles to exist and persist into the future are enshrined in national legal provisions, yet adequately implementing these protections remains a challenge. This effort to satellite tag the first leatherback of Ecuador represents an important step forward, towards using science to better protect the species and upholding their intrinsic and inherent rights through meaningful conservation action.”
The major threat facing leatherback turtles in the region is fisheries bycatch, or the accidental capture and subsequent potential for drowning in gillnets. Due to the decline of the East Pacific leatherback, it is incredibly difficult yet critically important to find and tag individuals of this population. While satellite tagging efforts have been carried out on nesting females in other East Pacific countries, largely Mexico and Costa Rica, this is the first satellite tagged leatherback turtle in Ecuador, the southernmost extent of the East Pacific leatherback’s nesting range.
Before this East Pacific leatherback satellite tagging milestone, Fundación Reina Laúd had been working for nine years in environmental conservation, with special emphasis on the protection and conservation of all species of sea turtles that come to nest on the coasts of Manabi province, particularly on the coastal profile between Crucita and Bahia de Caraquez.
Their work focuses mainly on monitoring and protecting nests, releasing hatchlings, scientific research, and environmental education with local communities. The team was well equipped with the experience and knowledge needed to identify the right location and date to attempt the satellite tagging endeavor. In 2021 the foundation reported the first successful leatherback hatching event in Ecuador, and this year has already documented fourteen leatherback nesting events, including five from Lucero, even though they had not yet encountered Lucero while she was nesting. When the team saw Lucero the night of the tagging event, they recognized her immediately from her distinct pink spot on the top of her head, “This is Carioca!” said Johnny Moreira, a conservationist from Fundación Reina Laúd.
“Carioca was first identification tagged by Reina Laúd on March 9, 2022 about 11 kilometers south of here!” The team decided to forever call her Carioca Lucero, as she now not only represents the first satellite tagged leatherback of Ecuador, but also the first re-encounter of an identified leatherback in the country.
The Leatherback Project has also been working for seven years in the conservation of sea turtles, previously establishing a long-term leatherback tagging and monitoring program on Panama and Colombia’s Atlantic coast through Proyecto Yaug Galu, working closely with the Guna community in Armila, and local communities in Acandi and Necocli Colombia in collaboration with Fundacion Tortugas del Mar and Cocomasur at one of the largest remaining nesting aggregations in the region. In this initiative, the team fitted 24 satellite transmitters on nesting females to map their inter-nesting and broader migratory movements, producing data that are now being used to identify critical habitats, migratory corridors, and potential threats to the species, and to inform local and regional conservation strategies. These satellite tracks have not only expanded scientific understanding of where leatherbacks travel after nesting, but also strengthened advocacy around coastal development and policy decisions by providing evidence-based insights into how these turtles use both nearshore and offshore waters. In Ecuador, the team’s efforts are focused on decreasing fisheries bycatch through understanding fisher perspectives on conservation, data collection and fleet implementation of bycatch reduction technology as well as working with government and community stakeholders to develop and scale comprehensive solutions for Ecuador’s artisanal gillnet fishing fleet. The team hopes to continue their field efforts in Ecuador to satellite tag more individuals, in collaboration with local fishermen and conservation organizations.
Complete field team: Kerly Briones Cedeño, Jhonny Moreira, Juan Fernando Pesántez-Muñoz, Luigi Rivero, Ricardo Zambrano, Callie Veelenturf, Amanda Rocafuerte, Luis Paladines, Nikki Riddy, Will Lucero, Miguel Cevallos, Yower Morán, Pia Beltrán y Rafaela Dueñas.
Funding for the satellite tagging equipment was provided by the National Geographic Society, and funding for the fieldwork was supplied by WildAid and the Alfred Kobacker and Elizabeth Trimbach Fund. Likewise, the support and accompaniment of the Zonal Directorate 4 of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Ecuador was obtained, within the framework of the corresponding research permits.
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