Amie is off the grid.
Amie the sea turtle’s transmitter has stopped sending a signal.
The loggerhead was GPS tagged by Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring and the Sea Turtle Conservancy June 23 at Coquina Beach. The tag, attached to the sea turtle’s top shell with a non-damaging epoxy, transmitted Amie’s location until Dec. 15, 2015.
“We’re confident that Amie is safe,” AMITW executive director Suzi Fox said. “Amie is an active, healthy, beautiful sea turtle. We can’t watch her anymore, but she’s out there.”
Amie was named for Anna Maria Elementary School, which partners with AMITW.
Fox said Amie’s transmitter might be hampered by crustacean growth or other matter due to the turtle’s slow movement through water.
A transmitter can function a few weeks to two years before becoming damaged or falling off.
“We’ve been lucky to have this amount of time with her,” Fox said. “We’ve learned so much from Amie.”
Whether Amie begins transmitting again or not, Fox said she plans to monitor the turtle’s tracking website and maintain the social media pages.
Fox said an AMITW volunteer would check the website, monitoring activity twice a day for a month, to see if Amie and her transmitter reappear.
Fox waited five days after Amie’s last location transmission before contacting Maura Kraus, head of Collier County Turtle Watch, to see if a sea turtle with a satellite tag had been stranded.
Collier County is the closest area to Amie’s last known location, off Florida’s southern coast, near Everglades National Park.
Kraus reported that no turtles had been found stranded, injured or dead that matched the loggerhead’s description.
For more information or to report an injured sea turtle, contact AMITW at 941-778-5638 or, in an emergency, contact AMITW at 941-677-3480.