West Coast Groundfish Observer Program Manual, Part2 - NOAA

CHAPTER 7
III. Sea Turtles
Introduction
Five species of sea turtles inhabit the waters off the West
Coast of the United States. Observers collect species, size
and condition information from the seas turtles they
encounter. Other scientists record data on the movements
and preferred habitats of the various populations of sea
turtles. These data are critical to the development of
conservation and recovery strategies for these marine
reptiles.
Sea Turtle Data Collection
It is unlikely that a turtle will be caught in a groundfish
trawl or on a fixed longline. In the rare event that a sea
turtle is encountered, collect the following information:
1. Identify the sea turtle to species. Figure 7-9 is a sea
turtle identification flow chart for Eastern Pacific
Marine Turtles.
2. To identify the sea turtle, collect the following
information:
• Count the number of costal scutes on the left side
of the carapace.
• Count the number of costal scutes on the right side
of the carapace.
• Count the number of scutes on the midline of the
carapace.
• Count the number of scutes on either side of the
plastron.
• Check to see if there are overlapping scutes on the
dorsal surface.
7-40 1/30/2004