Head Starting (Short-term Breeding and Releasing Project)

Hatchlings raised in our Head Starting Project are kept under human supervision and can grow larger than their natural counterparts. This lowers their chances of being preyed upon by natural enemies such as fish and birds. In addition, labeling and releasing turtles reared to approximately 1,000 grams or more will provide clues to the still mysterious life cycle of the hatchlings and how they will affect natural resources. The history of green turtle headstarting in the Ogasawara Islands is long, dating back to 1910, when the world’s first three-month Head Starting program was conducted for 30 years until 1939. At that time, however, the population did not recover. After the return of the Ogasawara Islands to Japan in 1973, the Tokyo Metropolitan Ogasawara Fisheries Center resumed the project, which was taken over by the Ogasawara Marine Center, which now raises and releases 200 to 300 hatchlings annually (these hatchlings are released at village events and as part of various environmental education programs).

⇒What did the staff find out？

The released hatchlings have been recaptured in the waters where they live (also includes protected hatchlings from fishing bycatch followed by visual inspections and confirmation by photography, etc.). The recapture rate is about 3%, which is higher than the survival rate of 0.2-0.3% of natural hatchlings (about 10 times higher).