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In recent years, there has been increased interest in the degree to which hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) in Cuban waters are isolated from other populations in the Greater Caribbean and the extent to which hawksbills move into and out of Cuban waters (Moncada Gavilan, 1994; Bowen et al., 1996; Heppell and Crowder, 1996). We have just received a tag return from Cuba for a hawksbill that we tagged at Union Creek, Great Inagua, Bahamas (21o07'N, 73o34'W). The hawksbill, which had a straight carapace length (SCL, from nuchal notch to tip of posterior marginal) of 51.6 cm, was tagged on 1 October 1992 with four plastic tags (Dalton Jumbo-Roto). We did not see it again after release. In August 1997, Luis Alfredo Diaz Alavarez, a Cuban fisherman from Banes, Cuba, captured the turtle over a reef about 1 km offshore from Puerto Rico Beach, Banes, Holguín, Cuba. He reported that all tags were still attached to the turtle. This recapture represents a minimum distance of approximately 200 km over water depths of more than 3000 m.

Although our long-term studies at Great Inagua focus on immature green turtles, we also tag hawksbills whenever they are encountered. Since 1975, we have tagged 46 hawksbills with a range of SCL from 24.3 to 71.3 cm. The recapture of only one other hawksbill tagged at Inagua has been reported to us. In September 1983, an immature hawksbill (46.9 cm SCL) tagged at Inagua on 10 September 1982 was recaptured on Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (Bjorndal et al., 1985). This recovery was in the opposite direction and represented a minimum distance of about 150 km over waters at least 3500 m in depth.

Acknowledgements: Our research program at Inagua has been supported by the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, the U. S. National Marine Fisheries Service, the Bahamas National Trust (BNT), Morton Bahamas, Ltd., and the U. S. Coast Guard. Our work would not be possible without the assistance of BNT wardens James, Samuel and Henry Nixon and Randolph Burrows.

Bjorndal, K. A., A. Carr, A. B. Meylan and J. A. Mortimer. 1985. Reproductive biology of the hawksbill, Eretmochelys imbricata, at Tortuguero, Costa Rica, with notes on the ecology of the species in the Caribbean. Biological Conservation 34:353-368.

Bowen, B. W., A. L. Bass, A. Garcia-Rodriguez, C. E. Diez, R. van Dam, A. B. Bolten, K. A. Bjorndal, M. M. Miyamoto and R. J. Ferl. 1996. Origin of hawksbill turtles in a Caribbean feeding area as indicated by genetic markers. Ecological Appl. 6:566-572.

Heppell, S. S. and L. B. Crowder. 1996. Analysis of a fisheries model for harvest of hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata). Conservation Biology 10:874-880.

Moncada Gavilan, F. G. 1994. Migration of hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) in the Cuban platform, p.1-8. In: Study of the hawksbill turtle in Cuba (I). Ministry of Fishing Industry, Cuba.

KAREN A. BJORNDAL and ALAN B. BOLTEN, Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research and Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 USA.