EPA's Vessel General Permit and Small Vessel General

fish, jellyfish, mollusks, and tunicates (Witzell and Schmid 2005).
Diving
Kemp’s ridley sea turtles can dive from a few seconds in duration to well over two and a half
hours, although most dives range from 16 to 34 minutes (Mendonca and Pritchard 1986, Renaud
1995). Individuals spend the vast majority of their time underwater; over 12-hour periods, 89%
to 96% of their time is spent below the surface (Byles 1989b, Gitschlag 1996).
Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas)
Species description and distribution
The green sea turtle is a large, herbivorous, hard-shelled turtle. It has a circumglobal
distribution, occurring throughout tropical, subtropical, and, to a lesser extent, temperate waters.
Status
In 1978, the green sea turtle was listed as threatened for all populations with the exception of the
Florida and Pacific coast of Mexico breeding populations, which were listed as endangered (43
FR 32800). The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified the
species as endangered.
Population designations, abundance and trends
The species can be divided into two distinct populations: Atlantic and Indo-Pacific. Nesting
beaches within each population are connected genetically via male mediated gene flow (Karl et
al. 1992, Roberts et al. 2004), but females generally return to their natal beaches to nest, resulting
in maternally isolated subpopulations (Bowen et al. 1992). An estimated 100,000 – 150,000
females nest each year at 46 locations. Based historical trends at some of these locations, there
appears to an increase in the global population size, but trend data are available for just over half
of all sites examined and very few datasets span a full generation (Seminoff 2004). Nesting is
stable or increasing at most sites throughout the Atlantic (NMFS & USFWS 1991). Nesting has
declined throughout the Pacific, with the exception of Hawaii, where the nesting population has
steadily increased in abundance over the past 30 years (Balazs and Chaloupka 2004).
Threats
Habitat loss threatens the species globally. Nesting habitat is destroyed by human development,
including: construction of buildings and pilings, beach armoring and renourishment, and sand
extraction (Lutcavage et al. 1997, Bouchard et al. 1998). Lights on or adjacent to nesting
beaches is often fatal to emerging hatchlings (Witherington and Bjorndal 1991) and alters the
behavior of nesting adults (Witherington 1992). Anthropogenic disturbances also threaten coastal
marine habitats, particularly areas rich in seagrass and marine algae. These impacts include
contamination from herbicides, pesticides, oil spills, and other chemicals, as well as structural
degradation from excessive boat anchoring and dredging (Francour et al. 1999, Lee Long et al.
2000, Waycott et al. 2005). Further, the introduction of alien algae species threatens the stability
of some coastal ecosystems and may lead to the elimination of preferred dietary species of green
sea turtles (De Weede 1996). In the Pacific, where populations are declining, direct take of
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