The Great Tantramar Turtle Mystery: researchers aim to fill knowledge gap about presence of turtles in region’s waterways
A group of Mount Allison researchers are setting out to find out if there are turtles living in the waterbodies around Tantramar. Recent Mount Allison grads Issac Acker and Alexia McCormick are setting up traps around the Sackville Waterfowl Park this week, in hopes of catching and documenting the presence of the aquatic reptiles.
“There is currently a lack of scientific information regarding the presence of turtles in the Sackville/Tantramar area,” says McCormick. “And so we are hoping to gain knowledge from community members to help us basically find turtles and close the gap.”
Hear McCormick and Acker on Tantramar Report:
The hope is to find some populations of snapping and/or painted turtles in the region. “We expect the populations to be pretty low just based on there being limited sightings around,” says Acker.
Populations of snapping and painted turtles have recently declined in Nova Scotia, but there’s no information on what’s happening to the creatures in New Brunswick. “There’s been almost no studies done on them,” says Acker, “although they are present in parts of western New Brunswick, such as around Fredericton.”
Along with the understanding of the populations comes possible protections, says Acker. “That’s why we want to see if these turtles are actually present here, so that we can help further protect them as they’re starting to do in Nova Scotia.”… Continue