A group of Mount Allison researchers are setting out to find out if there are turtles living in the waterbodies around Tantramar. Recent Mount Allison grads Issac Acker and Alexia McCormick are setting up traps around the Sackville Waterfowl Park this week, in hopes of catching and documenting the presence of the aquatic reptiles.

“There is currently a lack of scientific information regarding the presence of turtles in the Sackville/Tantramar area,” says McCormick. “And so we are hoping to gain knowledge from community members to help us basically find turtles and close the gap.”

The hope is to find some populations of snapping and/or painted turtles in the region. “We expect the populations to be pretty low just based on there being limited sightings around,” says Acker.

Populations of snapping and painted turtles have recently declined in Nova Scotia, but there’s no information on what’s happening to the creatures in New Brunswick. “There’s been almost no studies done on them,” says Acker, “although they are present in parts of western New Brunswick, such as around Fredericton.”

Along with the understanding of the populations comes possible protections, says Acker. “That’s why we want to see if these turtles are actually present here, so that we can help further protect them as they’re starting to do in Nova Scotia.”

Acker and McCormick have started laying traps in the Waterfowl Park, but say they will move the traps around according to feedback from the public about where turtles may be living in the region. “We’re basically asking residents if they have ever seen a turtle in the Sackville or Tantramar area, what type of turtle, if they know, and the location of it,” says McCormick. “And then we’re looking to get permission to access the area.”

One of the floating turtle traps that will be placed in waterways around Tantramar this summer. Photo: Erica Butler

The traps themselves are cylindrical floating nets that lure turtles in with “nice, stinky sardines,” says Acker, “which attract the turtles into the trap to the point where they can’t find their way out, almost like a lobster trap.” Acker and McCormick will be checking traps daily to make sure the critters don’t stay trapped for long.

So far the group has heard reports of turtles spotted around Silver Lake, and a decades old sighting of a painted turtle in the Waterfowl Park.

If you have a turtle sighting to report, or any tips on where turtles might be living in the Tantramar area, you can contact the research team by email at imacker @ mta.ca.

Hear this story as reported on Tantramar Report: