Since 2009 PSB has been collecting satellite tag telemetry data from sea turtles and other protected species.

Sea turtles captured in various fishing gear (pound nets, long haul seines, gill nets) were outfitted with satellite transmitters so that their movements, migratory pathways and foraging behavior could be tracked. Despite their greater expense, satellite transmitters enable the researcher to determine long-range movements of sea turtles in comparison to acoustic and radio transmitters which delineate fine scale movements and habitat preferences. Furthermore, satellite transmitters have the capability of measuring and recording water temperature along with dive depth and duration of each tagged sea turtle. Finally, time spent on the surface can be measured and recorded.

Sea turtles captured in various fishing gear (pound nets, long haul seines, gill nets) were outfitted with satellite transmitters so that their movements, migratory pathways and foraging behavior could be tracked. Despite their greater expense, satellite transmitters enable the researcher to determine long-range movements of sea turtles in comparison to acoustic and radio transmitters which delineate fine scale movements and habitat preferences. Furthermore, satellite transmitters have the capability of measuring and recording water temperature along with dive depth and duration of each tagged sea turtle. Finally, time spent on the surface can be measured and recorded.

SWFSC is developing tools for estimation of limit reference points for marine turtles. These tools are being applied initially to estimate a limit reference point for western Pacific leatherback turtles off the U.S. west coast.

Studies are being conducted for transect surveys and mark-recapture to assess long term relative abundance

Satellite tags were deployed on kemps ridley and loggerhead turtles to assess dive behavior to improve estimates of abundance in aerial surveys

The Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Survey, conducted by the Conservation Ecology Branch at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, develops abundance and distribution models that incorporate environmental factors to better understand how protected species such as whales, dolphins, and sea turtles use our waters. The program coordinates the data collection and analysis efforts of NOAA Fisheries Northeast and Southeast Science Centers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Division of Migratory Birds. Through these efforts, we are providing enhanced data to managers and supporting conservation initiatives.

This dataset includes processed satellite tracking data collected from green turtles between July 2002 and October 2020 in the Gulf of Mexico. Tracks were located along the west coast of Florida from the Florida Keys to the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Output from the state-space model (SSM) described in Lamont et al. (2023) is included, as are inter-nesting and foraging centroids calculated using kernel density estimates and minimum convex polygons.

This dataset consists of the home ranges and satellite tracks taken from eleven dugongs and ten green turtles. Methods: Fast-acquisition satellite telemetry was used to track eleven dugongs and ten green turtles at two geographically distinct foraging locations in Queensland, Australia to evaluate the inter- and intra-species spatial relationships and assess the efficacy of existing protection zones. Home-range analysis and bathymetric modeling were used to determine spatial use and compared with existing protection areas using GIS. Raw, unfiltered tracking data were collected using fast acquisition GPS satellite transmitters attached to six dugongs (three females and three males) and four adult female green sea turtles near Mabuiag Island, Torres Strait, Australia in July 2009 and September 2010, and five dugongs (four females and one male) and six female green sea turtles (five adults and one prepubescent) in Shoalwater Bay, Australia in June/July 2012. The dugongs were captured using the dermal hold fast technique in Torres Strait and the standard rodeo technique in Shoalwater Bay. At both locations, the dugongs were fitted with Telonics Gen 4 GPS/ARGOS marine units attached to a 3 m tether linked to a padded tailstock harness. The green turtles were captured using the standard rodeo technique, brought to Mabuiag Island (Torres Strait) or MacDonald Point (Shoalwater Bay), and fitted with one of four types of satellite transmitters (Sirtrack F4G 291A, Wildlife Computers SPLASH10 BF-273A and Splash10 BF-273C, or SMRU SRDL 9000x). Each transmitter was attached to the carapace using the methods described in Shimada et al. (2012). Each turtle was released from shore the day after capture. Dugong units were programmed to collect a GPS position hourly; turtle units every 30 minutes. All units were programmed with a five minute repeat in case a signal was not received when the animal surfaced. Home-ranges were calculated for each animal using data from the entire period in which they were tracked and were calculated using fixed kernel density estimation with bandwidths selected by likelihood cross-validation (CVh). Kernel densities and bandwidths were calculated using the Geospatial Modelling Environment (GME), an extension to ArcGIS, with a resolution of 50 m. For a more detailed description of the methods see Gredzens(2014). Format: This dataset consists of shapefiles for the satellite tracks (lines and points) for the 21 animals as well as shapefiles for the calculated home ranges. References: Gredzens C, Marsh H, Fuentes MMPB, Limpus CJ, Shimada T, et al. (2014) Satellite Tracking of Sympatric Marine Megafauna Can Inform the Biological Basis for Species Co-Management. PLoS ONE 9(6): e98944. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098944 Data Location: This dataset is filed in the eAtlas enduring data repository at: data\NERP-TE\1.2_GBR-Turtles-dugong-monitoing Change log: 2024-05-29 - Added interactive map of the resource link to Layer id: ea_nerp:TS_QLD_NERP-1-2-2-1_JCU_Turtle-dugong-tracking_2009-2012

Seasonal capture efforts were conducted to evaluate patterns of catch rates, species and size compisition. Acoustic and satellite telemetry were used to evaluate residency, movements, and dive behavior. AUV-borne sidescan sonar surveys were conducted at the peak of sea turtle abundance on the spring.