Annual Survival of Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta Caretta) Nesting In Peninsular Florida: A Cause for Concern

To estimate annual survival rates of adult female Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta) in the Peninsular Florida subpopulation, we deployed pop-up archival transmitting tags on 30 Loggerhead turtles nesting at Juno Beach, Florida in 2009. We received data from 29 tags, which we used to estimate annual survival rates and assess the disposition of the animal at the time of tag release. A turtle could have survived the one-year deployment, could have died, or its fate may be unknown if a tag transmitted prematurely for no discernible cause. Annual survival was estimated to be 0.41 (0.20–0.65, 95% CI), but when assuming that all turtles whose fate was unknown had survived for one year survival was estimated to be 0.60 (0.40–0.78). These estimates are considerably lower than previous estimates for this subpopulation (range: 0.73–0.85) and raise concern for the recovery and conservation of the species.

To estimate annual survival rates of adult female Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta ) in the Peninsular Florida subpopulation,