But the Bermuda Turtle Project continues to find important information about turtles in local waters.

And it is now known that female turtles travel thousands of miles to reach Bermuda from nesting sites where they are born and return when they are ready to give birth themselves.

The project is a co-operative research programme of the Bermuda Aquarium, Bermuda Fisheries Division and the Caribbean Conservation Corporation.

US scientists Professor Peter and Mrs. Anne Meylan have returned for the latest in a number of visits in which they have tagged turtles.

Head Aquarist at the Aquarium, Ms Jennifer Gray said: "Even though green turtles have not nested on Bermuda beaches for more than 80 years, Bermuda has one of the healthiest populations of green turtles of any nation bordering the Atlantic.

"Green turtles hatch on beaches elsewhere in the Atlantic. They arrive at Bermuda after growing out in the open ocean to a shell length of about 25 centimetres.

"Once here, they grow to a size of about 75 centimetres and then leave the Island's waters to mature.

"Eventually females will go back to the beach where they hatched to nest.

The details of these migrations are one aspect of marine turtle biology being studied by the Bermuda Turtle Project.'' Mrs. Meylan stressed that the project was not trying to count the numbers of turtles in Bermuda's waters. She said there were not enough study sites.

In fact, the latest two-week study has been hampered by unfavourable weather conditions and cold water, giving the scientists fewer specimens to examine and tag, for future reference.

But Ms Gray said: "Local fishermen say there have been more turtles around recently.'' She added that the team's work, initiated in 1968, also furthered knowledge of the biology of marine turtles in order to promote conservation and education.

"For the last two weeks, project team members have been conducting one of two intensive sampling sessions.

"In this study, turtles are captured by net at more than 20 sites around the Island. They are measured, weighed, tagged and released. Each tag bears a number that identifies the turtle. The tags allow recognition of individuals when they are recaptured in Bermuda waters which allows collection of data on growth rates and local movements.

"They also allow researchers to learn where Bermuda turtles go when they leave the Island's waters.

"But only a few tags have been recovered from outside Bermuda waters, so direct evidence for the migratory destinations of Bermuda turtles remains poor.'' Five of the six recaptures have been made in Miskito Cays in Nicaragua, which is the primary feeding ground for green turtles that nest at Tortuguero in Costa Rica.

The other international recapture was made in the San Blas Islands of Panama.

Ms Gray added that recently project personnel had collected important genetic information about the green turtles in Bermuda. She said it appeared that they originated from at least three nesting colonies within the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean.

"Other genetic studies suggest that female green turtles nest on the beaches where they were born,'' she said.

"This means that green turtles that live in protected waters of Bermuda for a significant part of their lives are contributing to the nesting populations at three and perhaps more different sites.'' TURTLE TAGGED -- US scientists Prof. Peter Meyland and Mrs. Anne Meyland prepare to free a hawksbill turtle caught during the Bermuda Turtle Project.