35236 Class of 2013 Entity Published / External 26907 Monthly morphometric data on captive Kemps ridley sea turtles from 1998-2014 Data Set The NOAA Galveston Laboratory has been raising sea turtles in captivity since 1977. Most notable is the Kemp's ridley headstart program [1978-1992] which captive reared up to 2,000 Kemp's ridley hatchlings per year until they were large enough to receive up to 4 tags, then they were released into the wild in the Gulf of Mexico. From 1978-1989, Kemp's ridley eggs were taken from the nesting beach at Rancho Nuevo, Tamaulipas, Mexico and artificially incubated at Padre Island National Seashore [PINS] near Corpus Christi, TX. When the hatchlings emerged, they were allowed to imprint on the beach at PINS and briefly swim in the Gulf of Mexico before they were netted and transported to the NOAA Galveston Laboratory for headstarting. Kemp's ridleys were tagged starting with the living tag at 7-9 months of age, then flipper tagged, coded wire tag, and passive integrated transponder tag [PIT starting in the late 1980s] just prior to release. Kemp's yearlings from 1978-1992 were primarily released offshore of Padre Island in the Gulf of Mexico. Starting in 1990, Kemp's ridleys hatchlings [2,000 per year] that were imprinted at Rancho Nuevo, Mexico, were brought directly to NOAA Galveston for headstarting. These yearling Kemp's ridleys were released offshore of Galveston, Texas. From 1993-2000, 180-200 Kemp's ridly hatchlings were gifted to NOAA Galveston from the government of Mexico and these hatchlings were captive reared in the same manner as headstarted turtles, but were released offshore of Galveston, Texas. Post-headstart Kemp's ridleys were used for testing and evaluating Turtle Excluder Devices [TEDs] and for physiology and tag development experiments. In 2013, 100 Kemp's ridley hatchlings were collected from 3 nests on South Padre Island, Texas, and they were captive reared for a year and used for testing TEDs for skimmer trawls. The 2013 year class Kemp's ridleys were released offshore of South Padre Island in 2014. In preparation for Kemp's ridleys starting in 1978, the NOAA Galveston Laboratory received 2,000 loggerhead hatchlings in 1977 to test sea turtle rearing facilities which were modified shrimp rearing tanks. During the Kemp's ridley headstart program, Florida loggerheads were raised alongside the Kemp's ridleys. The captive rearing of loggerheads was not part of the headstart program. Loggerheads were used as both yearling and 2 year olds for developing and certifying TEDs. From 2001-2016 [except 2013], the NOAA Galveston Laboratory raised only Florida loggerheads sourced as hatchlings from beaches in Clearwater, Sarasota, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Juno Beach, and Melbourne Beach, Florida. The loggerhead captive rearing program was a joint project with the State of Florida's Department of Environmental Protection [FDEP] and then the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission [FWC]. Loggerhead hatchlings were collected post emergence in cages, or excavated just prior to emergence depending on the location of collection. In 1996, a wild loggerhead sea turtle nested on the Bolivar Peninsula, Texas and the eggs were sent to PINS for incubation. Thirty of the 1996 Texas loggerhead hatchlings from the Bolivar clutch were collected at PINS and transported to NOAA Galveston for captive rearing and use in tag development and TED testing research. Loggerheads were used for a variety of physiology, pharmacokinetic, sensory and behavioral experiments as well as tag development, hook and bait research related to the pelagic longline fishery. Loggerheads were captive reared for up to 4 years depending on the research need. During captive rearing, sea turtles are regularly weighed and measured, usually on a 4 week interval. Morphometric measurements such as carapace length, carapace width, body depth and weight are taken to track growth and health. Measurements may be taken on all sea turtles within a year class or a smaller sub-set and the average used for the entire year class. Morphometric measurements may be taken more frequently than every 4 weeks if a critical need arises for a specific sized sea turtle for research project. When tags are applied, the codes and locations of those tags are recorded in the database corresponding to the year class of the sea turtles. Sometimes multiple tags of the same kind were applied as part of tag research programs. When research is completed, the turtles are released back into the wild in a location that best matches the natural location where a sea turtle of that size might be found. Florida loggerheads were typically released back in Florida waters or Federal waters offshore of the State of Florida. Body weight is used to calculate food rations and sea turtles are raised to whatever size is required for fisheries research. A two-year-old loggerhead raised at the NOAA Galveston Laboratory is the scientific standard for testing and certifying TEDs. The two-year-old loggerhead is used as a surrogate for a 2-3-year-old Kemp's ridley, which is the smallest size sea turtle encountered in the Gulf of Mexico [GOM] shrimp fishery in the and Southeast Atlantic in the USA. The NOAA Galveston Laboratory is the only place in the world where sea turtles are raised in captivity specifically for fisheries research. Monitor growth of captive reared sea turtles Average Weight, Average Length, Average Width and Average Depth Measurements are inlcluded in the file by measurement date Theme Kemp's ridley Theme body depth Theme length Theme morphometric data Theme sea turtle Theme weight Temporal 2013-2014 National Centers for Environmental Information - Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring MD Spreadsheet The database contains monthly measurements taken on captive reared sea turtles. Measurements include: straight carapace length nuchal notch to carapace tip, straight carapace width maximum width, body depth maximum, weight. 10 SPECIES CHARACTER 22 No No Active Genus and species of sea turtle 20 YEARCLASS NUMERIC 4 No No Active Year in which sea turtle hatched 30 MEASUREMENT_DATE NUMERIC 10 No No Active Date on which the measurement was recorded 40 GROUP CHARACTER 20 No No Active A subset of sea turtles recorded separately for specific research, health or behavior 45 NEST Character 20 No No Active Nest Identifier 48 RACEWAY CHARACTER 11 No No Active The location in which the sea turtle was housed 50 ROW CHARACTER 2 No No Active Within the raceways, there are rearing containers arranged in rows and columns. This is the column number of the rearing container in which the sea turtle was raised. 60 COLUMN CHARACTER 1 No No Active The column number of the rearing containers in which the turtle was raised. 70 DIET CHARACTER 12 No No Active The diet which was fed to the sea turtles 80 POSITION NUMERIC 3 No No Active The position in which the rearing container for each sea turtle is arranged within the raceway 90 FLIPPER_TAG_CODE_1 CHARACTER 6 No No Active Monel alloy flipper tag with a 6 character code of letters and numbers 100 FLIPPER_TAG_LOCATION_1 CHARACTER 20 No No Active Location on the sea turtle to which the flipper tag is attached 130 WEIGHT_G NUMERIC 8 No No Active Weight in grams 140 LENGTH_CM NUMERIC 5 No No Active Straight carapace length in centimeters. Measurement is taken with calipers from the nuchal notch of the carapace to the most posterior tip of the carapace 145 WIDTH_CM NUMERIC 5 No No Active Maximum width in centimeters. Measurment is taken with calipers at the largest width of the carapace 148 DEPTH_CM NUMERIC 5 No No Active Maximum body depth taken with calipers and measured in centimeters. 150 PIT_TAG_CODE_1 CHARACTER 15 No No Active Passive Integrated Transponder Code of the first transponder. 155 PIT_TAG_LOCATION_1 CHARACTER 20 No No Active The location of the first PIT tag within the sea turtle 160 RELEASE_DATE NUMERIC 10 No No Active Date on which the sea turtle was released into the wild. 170 Release_Location CHARACTER 100 No No Active Location where the sea turtle was released back into the wild. 180 Comments Character 100 No No Active Any comment/note that is relevant to this record Data Steward 1995 Person Higgins, Benjamin ben.higgins@noaa.gov 4700 Avenue U Galveston TX 77551 409-766-3670 Contact by email preferred. Distributor 2017 Organization NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information NCEI ncei.info@noaa.gov https://ror.org/04r0wrp59 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact NCEI Contact Information Information for contacts at NCEI. Online Resource Contact by email preferred. Metadata Contact 1995 Person Higgins, Benjamin ben.higgins@noaa.gov 4700 Avenue U Galveston TX 77551 409-766-3670 Contact by email preferred. Point of Contact 1995 Person Baumer, Tim J tim.baumer@noaa.gov 4700 Avenue U Galveston TX 77551 409-766-3784 Contact by email preferred. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0156880/1.1/data/0-data/26907/26907/26907/CSV/LK2013.csv 2017 Organization NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information https://ror.org/04r0wrp59 LK2013.csv 2016-10-18T09:44:00 tabular digital data (Microsoft Excel, CSV, or other tabular format) CSV - Comma Separated Values (Text) 211K Uncompressed Not Chked gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:35236 David Huddleston 2016-10-11T14:25:51 SysAdmin InPortAdmin 2026-03-04T19:17:17 2021-04-29 Southeast Fisheries Science Center SEFSC 75 Virginia Beach Drive Miami FL 33149 USA (305)361-5761 www.sefsc.noaa.gov 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST 1001 Public No 2021-04-29 1 Year 2022-04-29