Sea Turtle Monitoring and Survey Program

Since 2013, a powerful partnership between the U.S. Navy and the University of Guam has stood watch over our island’s most vulnerable residents.

Led by UOG Center for Island Sustainability & Sea Grant since 2018, our team is on the frontlines of conservation at Andersen Air Force Base.

Working side-by-side with renowned sea turtle expert Jessy Hapdei (Jessy’s Tag Services), our biologists track and protect two critical species:

• The endangered Green Sea Turtle (Haggan Betde)
• The critically endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Haggan Karai)

From high-tech satellite tagging to early morning nest surveys, we are decoding the secrets of sea turtle behavior. Our goal is bold but simple: a self-sustaining turtle population and a thriving coastal ecosystem. We don’t just keep this data in a lab—we take it to the classroom and the community, fostering a new generation of guardians for Guam’s natural heritage.