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A bizarre twist occurred the day before our trip to Yakushima, Japan in July of 1999. Nichols received word by e-mail from Baja that a fisherman came forward with a flipper tag from a Loggerhead released in Japan! The result was that a newly hatched loggerhead from Yakushima was brought to Okinawa for approx. 6 months then tagged with a Japanese flipper tag (by Dr. Teruya & and Dr. Uchida) and released in 1988. The flipper tag was discovered by a Baja fisherman and kept on his key chain for 6 years before notifying Nichols associates. Nichols had gained the respect & confidence of the Baja fisherman enough to be handed this incredible discovery. The loggerhead was approx. 6 inches long when released according to the Okinawa Aquarium which released the turtle, and was caught 5 years later of the Baja coast in 1994. Ironically, the fisherman knew that Japanese loggerheads were making their way to Baja long before any researches.
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