A leatherback sea turtle called Lucero is now doing something no nesting turtle in Ecuador has done before: carrying a satellite tag that lets scientists track where she goes after laying eggs.

Fewer than 1,000 leatherbacks remain in the eastern Pacific, nesting along the coastline from Mexico to Ecuador. Scientists have fitted tracking devices to leatherbacks on other beaches across Latin America and to turtles caught as bycatch near Ecuador. But Lucero is the first nesting leatherback tagged in Ecuador, the southern limit of the species’ nesting range.

Scientists named the turtle Lucero, or “morning star” in Spanish, and estimated her age at 25 to 40 years. They plan to use the data to study her migration and feeding patterns and help inform conservation policies for the critically endangered subpopulation. Globally, the species, Dermochelys coriacea, is listed as vulnerable.

Researchers from Ecuador-based Fundacion Reina Laud first spotted Lucero at sea as she headed toward a remote stretch of beach to nest. They alerted Callie Veelenturf, a marine conservation biologist and founder of the U.S.-based Leatherback Project.

The team did not know where Lucero would come ashore, so they placed people along the beach with radios to watch for her, according to Veelenturf.

“It was really quite an adventure because we just spent multiple nights out on the beach waiting for her,” she told Mongabay in a video call.

Veelenturf said sea turtles enter a trance-like state when they lay eggs and do not seem to notice activity around them. That was when the team attached a satellite tag to the top of Lucero’s shell.

Each time Lucero surfaces to breathe, the tag pings a satellite and sends information about her movements.

Leatherbacks live across most of the oceans, but the eastern Pacific subpopulation has declined by roughly 98 percent over the past several decades. One of the biggest threats is bycatch in fishing nets, which can kill turtles and damage fishers’ gear.

By tagging Lucero, researchers want to learn where she travels, when she moves, and how deep she dives. They say that information could help them advise fishers on how to avoid areas used by sea turtles.

“We wanted to understand how the habitat use and the fishing grounds use is overlapping,” Veelenturf said.

She said fishers also have another reason to help protect the 900-kilogram turtles.

“They can eat their weight in jellyfish every single day, and jellyfish consume juvenile fish and fish larvae. So when you have a healthy leatherback population, [it] supports healthy fish stocks and fishing communities in turn.”

Since laying her eggs, Lucero has migrated south to coastal Peru, according to her tracker. The tag will likely stay attached for a year or two, though Veelenturf said she hopes it lasts long enough to map Lucero’s migration route and foraging grounds.

“Every day I check it and hold my breath and wait to see the transmitting signal,” she said.

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