George Shillinger returned this week from the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona.  As you know, George has spent the past several years tagging leatherback sea turtles in Costa Rica, and following their migrations as they pass over the Cocos Ridge and past the Galapagos Islands on their journey to the open ocean west of South America. 

Nicole Teutschel at UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab, CA -- The E-Seal Team has a new member, Melinda Fowler. Although new to the TOPP team, she's had extensive experience with marine mammals. Melinda did her masters at Sonoma State University with Dan Crocker, who introduced the Missouri farm girl to the world of elephant seals. He showed her how their extreme behaviors and synchronized haul out schedule makes elephant seals a model system to study many physiological processes.

George Shillinger, Monterey Bay, CA. Something that most folks don’t realize is how difficult it is to track turtles, notes TOPP researcher Scott Eckert.

George Shillinger in Monterey, CA -- Mistaking them for jellyfish, Stephanie, Windy, Drexelina and Champira ate a bunch of plastic bags.

George Shillinger in Monterey, CA. -- Did commercial fishermen or shark-finners off the Galapagos or Peru accidentally kill Stephanie, Windy, Drexelina or Champira?

George Shillinger in Monterey, CA -- Did the leatherbacks’ harnesses fall off, or have their tags broken?

George Shillinger in Monterey, CA. Did Stephanie and her sister leatherbacks die of old age?

George Shillinger, in Monterey, CA -- Where in the world is Stephanie Colburtle, the leatherback turtle?

Freedom Turtle, from the Summer-to-Summer Super Swimathon. (That's me, the light blue turtle in the pack with Champiro and Purple Lightning.