Home : Features : Sea Turtles : Sea Turtle Research Projects

	Printer-Friendly Version

Developing a Statewide Program of In-Water Monitoring of Sea Turtles in Florida

 The Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) has coordinated an index system of turtle nesting beach surveys since 1989.  This allows for consistent monitoring of trends in the numbers of marine turtle nests.  Yet sea turtles spend nearly their entire lives in the water, and nesting beach monitoring only provides data on adult female loggerheads, leatherbacks, and green turtles.  Nesting beach monitoring does not provide any data on adult males, subadults, juveniles, or the other two species of marine turtles found in Florida: Kemp’s ridleys and hawksbills.  These two species use the state’s coastal areas as foraging grounds and migratory corridors but nest only rarely.

In-water research has increased in recent years, but no coordinated trend monitoring program exists for in-water populations.

The first step in developing such a program involves determining what research is actually taking place.  Researchers in FWRI’s marine turtle program inventoried all in-water marine turtle research that has been conducted in Florida.  Through the use of interviews, questionnaires, and literature reviews, researchers compiled a comprehensive database containing detailed information on 36 research projects (21 active, 15 inactive) focusing on in-water aggregations of sea turtles.  Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps were also developed for each project that will serve as examples to in-water researchers of how GIS can be used to enhance their studies.

The vast majority of in-water projects (24) are, or were, located on the southeast coast of Florida, leaving major gaps in information on northeast coast, west coast, and Panhandle aggregations of sea turtles.  The latter two gaps are especially important as the west coast of the state may represent one of the most important Kemp’s ridley foraging grounds in the United States. 

Based on the information compiled, candidate projects were identified for inclusion in a statewide in-water index monitoring program that would provide trend information on sea turtles in Florida’s waters.  Recommendations were presented on how to develop such a program, which would include the measurement of capture effort, promotion of cooperation among in-water research groups, and standardization of data collection methods resulting in a consistent set of measurements.

In addition to dedicated in-water studies, other projects and activities were identified that involve the collection of sea turtle data, often secondary to the primary purpose.  These projects provide important data on general turtle distributions and can identify target areas for future in-depth studies.  Many of these projects are conducted by other sections of FWRI, including capture efforts and aerial surveys for manatees or fish.  Other data come from incidental capture in fisheries research projects, or by the fisheries themselves.  Pre-dredge trawling, sea turtle aerial surveys, stranding networks, and satellite tracking of sea turtles also provide important distributional data.

The end result of this project is a narrative document that will function as a guide to in-water research in Florida. 

View the Developing a Statewide Program of In-Water Monitoring of Sea Turtles In Florida report (7.3 MB)

You will need Adobe Reader to view the report.  To download Adobe Reader, visit
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html