STRETCH UPDATES - COHORT IV

   

Map: Cohort II Current Locations & Map: Cohort III Current Locations

Map: Cohort II and III Combined

STRETCH RESOURCES AND INFORMATION

RECENT 'STRETCH' PUBLICATIONS 

Multi-decade northward shift  &  Promise or peril in a warming ocean

Mock Tag Attachment-

Does the attached satellite tag interfer with the growth of the turtle?

PICTURES OF 30 COHORT IV LOGGERHEADS

SHIPBOARD NOTES  (from Koki Sagiura)

CII, CIII, CIV CURRENT LOCATION MAP

July 20, 2026

CII, CIII, CIV and COMBINED UPDATE

13 Cohort II loggerheads are reporting locations as of 7/20/26.  These turtles have been at sea for 742 days since their release!

21 Cohort III loggerheads are reporting locations as of 7/20/26.

30 Cohort IV loggerheads are reporting locations as of 7/18/26.  

CII, CIII AND CIV combined locations as of 7/20/26.

July 17, 2026

MOL-  STRETCH TURTLE RELEASE PHOTOS

Koki-san and Taka-san on the deck of the Liberty Ace with one of the Cohort IV loggerheads.

Liberty Ace crew members are seen lowering one of the CIV turtles.

Liberty Ace crew members are seen getting ready to lower one of the CIV turtles.

The Liberty Ace release team.

Koki-san with dinner on board the Liberty Ace.

Taka-san replacing the water in the containers for the CIV turtles.  This whole process was done daily.

A little daily "deck exercise" that each CIV turtle got while its container was clean and fresh sea water added.

Taka-san with a CIV loggerhead.

Basket is turned over and the loggerhead is released.

Free at last.... a CIV loggerhead swims away from the Liberty Ace and into the vast North Pacific ocean.

Ready to be lowered to the ocean and released.

Ready to go!

July 16, 2026

Below is an image of the current location of all 62 loggerhead STRETCH turtles 

Above is the current location of 62 STRETCH loggerhead turtles as of 7/16/26.

July 13, 2026

Update of CIV

All 30 Cohort IV loggerheads released on July 9, 2026 are "reporting in" and we have positions.  Interestingly they are located in the same area as many of the Cohort III loggerheads and the majority of them have moved to the north as expected.  Below are two images (CIV and CIII) to show their relative positions.

Cohorts III and IV locations as of 7/13/26.

Cohort IV locations on 7/13/26.

Cohort III locations on 7/13/26.

July 10, 2026

Taka-san and Koki-san reported from the MOL ship Liberty Ace that all 30 Cohort IV loggerheads were safely released and swam away on the beginning of their great adventure.

No pictures yet but the on-board team reported that every thing went smoothly and profusely thanked the Liberty Ace crew and officers for their help in a successful release!

The Tags are on a transmission schedule of one hour on and 23 hours off so we will not see them all at the same time as they may have started their one hour transmission at different times.  The restricted transmission windows are programmed to extend battery life with the expectation that the batteries will last up to 4 years (in theory).  Below is a map showing some of them at the deployment site where they were released.

The two groups of turtles transmitting are shown at their approximate release locations.  As the days pass they will all come online and we will be able to trace their paths.  The location at the release point is 39°59.2032'N, 149°02.9923'W and the SST was 19 degrees C.

Also of note, is the fact that we now have a total of 63 turtles (13 CII-721 days, 20 CIII- 366 and 30 CIV-1 day) transmitting locations.

Cohort II Map

Cohort II locations as of 6/10/26. 

 

Cohort III Map

Cohort III locations as of 6/10/26.

July 9, 2026

Today, July 9, 2026 is the proposed release day for Cohort IV.  Koki Sagiura said that the turtles will be released at about 1500 hours local time so we will cover their release when we get the report from Koki on the Liberty Ace.  IN THE MEANTIME::: Cohort II has reached a chonological milestone with 12 individuals still transmitting at 730 days or TWO YEARS!!!  That these tags have continued to transmit for a full two years is a major accomplishment and provides data over a very significant time range which covers major changing environmental conditions (from seasonal variations to major climatic variations). The amount of data provided is massive and will keep our STRETCH Team busy for a long time!

Hopefully, pictures of the upcoming release will be available soon.

July 8, 2026

Below is a map of the proposed release point from Cohort IV at 40.27 N and 150.00 W.

Release point is planned to be at the encirdled white dot.  

 

July 6, 2026 - Update on Cohorts II & III

Thirteen Cohort II turtles continue to transmit solid locations after 726 days at sea.  Sixteen Cohort III are still transmitting after 360 days at sea... we have lost contact with a few of them in the last couple of weeks.  The loss of contact may be the result of tag malfunction, tag detachment and sinking, predation or a combination of these.  We will likely never know what the cause is.

Cohort III locations as of 7/4/2026 after 360 days at sea.

Locations of Cohort II turtles still transmitting on 7/4/2026 (726 days at sea).

Cohort IV is on Board the Liberty Ace

The fourth cohort (C IV) of STRETCH loggerheads was loaded onto the RoRo ship Liberty Ace (TRACK THE SHIP) on July 29th by staff from the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium.  They were successfully put on the ship on the upper deck where they will be cared for by Kochi University graduate student Koki Sagiura (his second STRETCH cohort deployment) and Takahiro Hoshino from the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium (Taka-san has worked at PNPA for over 20 years and is currently curator of the Aquarium's penguin exhibit).  The C IV loggerheads are kept in individual containers and the two caretakers (Noa and Taka) take them out on deck and change their water and clean their containers once every day.  They feed the turtles a specially prepared diet in their containers each day.

Today the ship left Nagoya for Yokahama and, after a short stay in Yokohama, the ship will begin its voyage across the Pacific to North America.   Part way across, at a point very close to where Cohorts I through III were released, the ship will "stop" and each turtle will be carefully lowered by basket and released into the ocean, just as the three other cohorts were released.  Please see a video of the release operation of Cohort I.  It will pretty much be the same process this year.

Photos below taken by Takahiro Hoshino

The PNPA turtle group and the crew of the Liberty Ace.

Liberty Ace crew member transporting a couple of loggerheads to their "cabin."

The stern of the RoRo ship Liberty Ace.

PNPA director Dr. Kurita and the Liberty Ace Captain.

Out two STRETCH turtle guardians, Taka and Koki.

STREETCH loggerheads being placed in their "Cabin" on board the Liberty Ace.

Bow of the Liberty Ace.

STRETCH loggerheads taking the elevator up to their "cabin."

Thirty STREETCH loggerheads safely in their "Cabin" at the beginning of their voyage the release point in the northeast central Pacific.

 

Latest Positions - Cohorts II & III

As of June 22, 13 Cohort II turtles continue to show their locations after 713 days at sea and 20 Cohort III turtles' locations are known after 349 days at sea. 

Their locations are shown in the images below:

June 22, 2026 locations of 13 Cohort II turtles.  

June 22, 2026 locations of 20 Cohort III turtles.  Note that Squirt (white circle) has move east southeast and is very near the cluster of Cohort II turtles some 500-600 km off the west coast of North America/Baja.  See map below.

Satellite Tag Attachment - Day 4

The STRETCH team finished up the satellite tag attachment on Day 4 (June 20, 2026) by attaching three Splash tags to the remaining Cohort IV loggerheads.  The SPLASH tags are a little larger and record dive data, temperature, maximum depth, etc. so the three loggerheads they are attached to are larger that those that received Spot 6 tags.  In all, there are 30 satellite tagged loggerheads in Cohort IV.  These 30 loggerheads will be kept at the aquarium until the ship comes to Nagoya to pick them up in early July.  The ship will transport them to the northeast Pacific where they will be released, just as Cohorts I, II and III were.

See the loggerhead Stretch Post for images.

Satellite Tag Attachment - Day 3

After a successful day 1 & 2 (18 tags attached), the team will assemble again at PNPA to begin the second day of attachment of satellite tags.  

UPDATE:  Nine more tags attached successfully and there are three more to do on Saturday in Japan.

Below are a few pictures of the process... 

The STRETCH tagging team (missing HPA student Taiga) after completing the attachment of 27 tags on 27 juvenile loggerhead turtles.  Three more tomorrow monring.

After the completion of the attachment of 27 satellite tags to juvenile loggerheads, the STRETCH team does a traditional Japanese toast to the safe transport and release of the loggerheads in early July.

Satellite Tag Attachment - Day 2 

After a successful day 1, the team will assemble again at PNPA to begin the second day of attachment of satellite tags.  Yesterday they successfully attached 9 Spot 6 tags and will do the same today.

This image shows the tag attached to turtle number 87 of the first group of turtles.  The red paint is anti-fouling paint to help keep epibionts from attaching to the tags and interfering with transmissions.

Larry and Dana cleaning and drying the carapace of our little loggerheads.

Rella, Noa and Rino with a loggerhead they have just gotten ready for satellite tag attachment.

Scrubbing the carapace.

Must get the carapace very clean so the resin will "stick" properly.

A view of the worik area and the workers at the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium.

The STRETCH Team has Arrived

June 17, 2026 Nagoya, Japan

The STRETCH team has arrived at the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium (PNPA) to attach 30 Wildlife Computers satellite tags to Cohort IV loggerhead turtles.  The team assembled this morning in Kanayama and traveled to PNPA at 0900 to begin the process.  Today they are planning on attaching 9 satellite tags.  Below are a few pictures and videos to show the beginning of the process.  

From left to right:  Rowan, Drew, Taiga and Dana are covering vulnerable tag connections so that there is no resin covering them.

George talking to the TV crew filming the attachment procedure.

The team is scrubbing the carapaces of the loggerheads so that they are clean for the attachment process.

The attachment team working hard on the attachment process.

STRETCH elder supervising the process.

Head supervisor Larry.

TV crew interviewing Larry Crowder as HPA student translates from English to Japanese.

HPA student NOA is translating the interview with Larry Crowder.

Hawaii Preparatory Academy Student cutting the fiberglass cloth to be used in the attachment of the attachment of the tags- Larry Crowder taking pictures on the left.

PNPA Turtle Curator Masanori Mori shows HPA students turtle eggs that are developing in incubators. What we were seeing was a group of hatchlings from a nest with only about 25 viable eggs. Since there were so few eggs, they wouldn't able to work together to move enough sand to reach the surface on their own. They were being incubated and monitored, so they could safely make it out. (video by Rella)

On June 17, Members of the Stretch Team will assemble at the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium to begin the process of attaching satellite tags to 30 juvenile loggerhead turtles that have been raised at the aquarium.  This post will feature the attachment process and the activities associated with process.  I will interject information about Cohorts II and III loggerheads that are still transmitting.

Stay tuned as the team accomplishes this last bit of work and Cohort IV loggerheads are transported by ship out to an area where the other three cohorts have been released.   

For past information on Cohort II and III go to the Post "Streetch Updates - Cohort III" below.

JUNE 15, 2026

As members of the STRETCH Team start their trip to the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium to attach 30 Wildlife Computer satellite tags to juvenile loggerhead turtles as the fourth Cohort of turtles in the STRETCH experiment.  Cohort IV turtles will be released from a MOL car carrier transport ship in early July somewhere near where the other three cohorts were released.  It will be interesting to see how the coming Godzilla El Nino will affect the migration patters of this last Cohort of loggerheads.

As of today, 13 Cohort II turtles continue to show their locations after 707 days at sea and 22 Cohort III turtles locations are known after 341 days at sea. 

Their locations are shown in the images below:

Locations of Cohort II on 6/15/26 after 707 days at sea.

Locations of Cohort III on 6/15/26 after 341 days at sea.