Investigation of Immature Sea Turtles in the Coastal Waters of West Florida

To survey immature sea turtles that inhabit the Ten Thousand Islands. Program funding came from South Florida Ecosystem Restoration. This project provided base-line data on the distribution and abundance of threatened and endangered sea turtles prior to the proposed redirection of Everglades fresh water flow.

Tagging data are located on hard copy and electronic versions on CD. They are not posted on the host server. A condensed version of these data was also submitted to the Cooperative Marine Turtle Tagging Data Base (CMTTP) administered by the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.

To determine relative abundance, temporal and spatial distributions, movements, habitat requirements, feeding habits, and sex ratios of immature sea turtles in the nearshore waters of West Florida. Research efforts focus on the highly endangered Kemp's ridley turtle, but other turtle species are opportunistically collected during routine sampling operations.

In-water sampling was concentrated in the eastern portion of the bay, primarily at Gullivan Key. A 20.5 cm stretched mesh nylon strike net was fished from a 6-m commercial boat to capture turtles that surfaced near the vessel. Each capture location was recorded using a handheld global positioning system (GPS). Weather, tide, sea surface temperatures were recorded at each capture.

The following morphometric measurements were recorded for each turtle:

Total straight-line carapace length (TSCL; anterior most edge of carapace to posterior margin of supracaudal scutes);

Standard straight-line carapace length (SSCL, midline of nuchal scute to posterior margin of supracaudals);

Minimum straight-line carapace length (MSCL, midline of nuchal scute to the posterior notch of supracaudals);

Minimum curved carapace length (midline of nuchal scute to the posterior notch of supracaudals); and

Straight-line carapace width at the widest point.

Straight-line lengths and width were measured to the nearest 0.1 cm with Vernier calipers.

Curved carapace length was measured to the nearest 0.1 cm with flexible fiberglass tape.

Weight was measured to the nearest 0.25 lb with a spring scale and converted to kilograms.

Turtles were flipper tagged on the trailing edge of the front flippers with no. 681 Inconel cattle ear tags.

Additionally, Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags were placed in the left front flipper of Kemp's ridley turtles.

Publc Data

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To anyone based upon request.

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NOAA Data Quality Act Documentation and Pre-Dissemination guidelines

Not for use in litigation. Please credit data set.

None

Not for use in litigation.

Tagging data are located on hard copy and electronic versions on CD.

Curved carapace length was measured to the nearest 0.1 cm with flexible fiberglass tape.

Weight was measured to the nearest 0.25 lb with a spring scale and converted to kilograms.

Straight-line lengths and width were measured to the nearest 0.1 cm with Vernier calipers.