Arribada Scute Satellite Sea Turtle Tag
ARRIBADA-SCUTE-A-SEA-TURTLE
Developed over the past 8 years in partnership with Fundação Príncipe, SPOT, IBAP, Fundação Maio Biodiversidade and the Olive Ridley Project, the new “Scute” Argos / Kinéis satellite sea turtle tag lowers the cost of tracking rehabilitated and repatriated sea turtles to a much more affordable $500, inline with Arribada’s not-for-profit status and mission to unlock access to accessible and affordable sea turtle telemetry.
About
$500 (£365.00)
VAT @ 20% is applicable if purchasing within the UK.
Ordering & Shipping Information
Scute tags are manufactured by Arribada in batches to achieve the low cost per tag, which we pass on to you to support your sea turtle conservation work.
To reserve and order your tags, first complete the Reservation Form before paying for your order on this page. This allows us to assign your order to a batch and to provide a lead time.
We use UPS to ship globally. The product is manufactured by Arribada Initiative C.I.C, a UK Community Interest Company that is VAT registered. UK VAT will be added if you purchase within the UK. If purchasing abroad, VAT is not included as you will pay local VAT and import taxes based on the country you select to ship to.
For more information regarding shipping and lead times, please feel free to contact us directly.
Development of the Scute tag began in São Tomé and Príncipe with Fundação Príncipe, expanded to North Cyprus with SPOT, to Guinea-Bissau with The Institute of Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IBAP), to Cape Verde with Fundação Maio Biodiversidade and finally to the Maldives with The Olive Ridley Project. The tag was validated in French Guiana with WWF French Guiana in May 2026.
About the Scute tag
The Scute tag utilises the new Argos Kinéis satellite constellation to generate accurate spatial positions and has been tested alongside leading commercial tags to validate performance.
Low-cost yet high quality
The cost of acquiring satellite sea turtle tags has always presented a barrier for rehabiliation and repatriation programmes seeking to track releases, primarily due to tags costing between $1200 – $2000. At $500, the Scute tag unlocks access to the same high quality location data you would expect from leading commerical tags at a price point that works for rehabiliation programmes.
Cloud dashboard and live tracking
Configure and manage your Scute tags via a cloud dashboard, including accessing a range of social features often requested by rehabilitation centres, such as the ability to share a live track publically for donors and sponsors who may have sponsored a tag and annotation tools to note the status and daily behaviour of a turtle post-release.
100% open source
Developed from the ground up over a period of 8 years, all hardware and software is 100% open source to enable researchers, veterinarians and engineers to modify and enhance the tag(s) based on their needs. Arribada’s team of electrical engineers and software developers are also able to offer technical advice and support to support adaptations to the current tag’s design for special patients (i.e. custom enclosure fitment to a damaged carapace).
Specification & Features
High resolution spatial data
The Scute tag was specifically designed to utilise the new Argos Kinéis satellite constellation, meaning positional accuracy of 150m is now possible with up to 24 positions per day due to an increase in the number of Argos satellites available.
Cloud dashboard & configuration support
Manage and configure your tags via a cloud dashboard, with an intuitive interface designed to enable you to track the behaviour of released turtles. Monitor the number of surfacing events, distance travelled or dwell time to spot if behaviour is as expected post-release.
The Scute tag has been designed for hard-shell sea turtles with a carapace length of 60cm or more.
Note – a smaller Scute-S tag for sub-adults and juveniles may be requested in the reservation form but has a longer lead time.
The base enclosure has a length of 11cm, a width of 4.8cm and a height of 3cm.
The forward copper-nickel saltwater switch is elevated by an additional 1cm to enhance surface detection.
152 grams in air, 44.6 grams submerged in saltwater.
9 – 12 months based on configuration.
9 months of transmissions assumes 24 positions per day (hourly).
Argos / Kineis with an operating frequency of 401.650Mhz.
- Battery voltage.
- Doppler position.
- (Pressure / temperature optional).
(Above) | Two months of tracking data from a Scute tag deployed on an Olive Ridley sea turtle
The tag’s enclosure is formed using MG 832WC epoxy, a water-clear, hard, two-part epoxy that offers extreme environmental, mechanical and physical protection. It is optically transparent, allowing a magnet to be used to activate, configure and put the sleep into a deep sleep storage state as and when required.
We recommend the tag is treated with Micron 350 self-polishing antifoul prior to attachment to the carapace. For best results when attaching, Devcon 5-min epoxy and fiberglass together with Loctite 3463 “Magic Metal” offers a strong attachment suitable for deployments up to 9 – 12 months on average.
