January. So Head Aquarist Mrs. Jennifer was happy to welcome 13 North American college students to help round up and tag green turtles as part of the Bermuda Turtle Project.

The biology and marine science majors from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida and Smith College arrived on the Island recently on a two-week credit course entitled "sea turtle biology and conservation.'' Joined by Bermudians Mrs. Leeann Hinton, Mr. Lance Furbert and Mr. Robin Marira, the students spent five days at sea on board Agriculture and Fisheries boat Calamus chasing turtles.

While the pilot course gave the students a first hand look at Bermuda's marine life, they gave in return enthusiasm and a fresh outlook to the work, Mrs.

Gray said.

"I hope they will take the good message back out of Bermuda with them. The survival of sea turtles depends on world education. Turtles are more protected in Bermuda than anywhere else in the world. But in a sense, because of their migratory habits, we are protecting other peoples' turtles,'' she said.

The project which began in 1968 and was taken over by the Bermuda Aquarium four years ago, is aimed at collecting information on the life cycle of the green turtle which spends its adolescence in Bermuda's waters before heading south to breed.

"Bermuda is one of the best places as far as turtle biology goes,'' said assistant professor at Eckerd College and a founder of the project, Dr. Peter Mayland.

"It is one of the very best projects in studying turtles at the development habitat stage. As adolescents, they spend up to 20 years in Bermuda and is an important stage of their life cycle.'' On this trip, the students caught 50 turtles by rounding them up in a circular net. They then collected data including details of weight, length and blood samples to determine their sex.

Dr. Mayland, accompanied by his wife Dr. Anne Mayland -- an international authority on sea turtles, said the project could play a crucial part in the conservation of green turtles internationally.

"More and more the conservation of marine species has to be an international effort because they move about quite a bit,'' he said.

"We are very active in trying to get an agreement between Nicaragua and Costa Rica to protect the adults. It would be useful for Bermuda to get involved.

"Bermuda has one of the best records in sea turtle protection,'' he added.

"There are lots of turtles here which are in good shape.'' He said Bermuda acts as a nursery to the turtles which can grow to an adult size of 400 pounds.

In the future scientist who study the genetics of the turtles will be able to pinpoint their exact nesting grounds.

"We want to know where they are going when they leave Bermuda,'' said Dr.

Mayland.

So far most of the turtles have been traced to Nicaragua.

"We know the females return to their hatching grounds but we don't know about the males. We assume they do too but it is very difficult.'' DOUBLE TROUBLE -- A young green turtle is measured against its older counterpart by North American students who spent two weeks working on the Bermuda Turtle Project.