Satellite tags enable marine turtle conservation research but their attachment and effects on turtle welfare require careful consideration and refinement of methods.
Marine turtle tagging for research welfare requires balancing conservation knowledge benefits against individual animal welfare costs. Capture and handling for tag attachment causes acute stress in these wide-ranging animals that rarely encounter human contact. Improperly attached tags that affect hydrodynamics can alter energy expenditure and foraging behaviour over the months-long tag lifetimes. Tag loss prematurely ends data collection but may be welfare-positive if the tag was causing drag or irritation. Welfare best practice includes minimising handling time, careful tag placement to reduce drag, smallest feasible tag size, and monitoring of tagged animals for behavioural changes. The conservation knowledge from tracking programmes benefits marine turtle populations, providing ethical justification for appropriately conducted research.