World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

USAPOPULATION:Chelonia mydasNesting sites Known annual nesting in continental USA is essentiallylimited to several sites along the south-east coast of Florida, from BrevardCounty southward (Anon., 1980c; Dodd, 1982; Conley and Hoffman, 1986).Florida sites include, in north- south order: Merritt Island, SebastianInlet, Hutchinson Island, Hope Sound National Wildlife Refuge, HighlandBeach, Hillsboro Beach, John U. Lloyd State Park, and Loggerhead Key (Dodd,1982). Other sites are noted by Conley and Hoffman (1986). There are alsorecords from North Carolina (Camp Lejeune) and Georgia (Jekyll Island)(Dodd, 1982). Nesting figures provided by Conley and Hoffman (1986)indicate that Hutchinson Island is by far the most important nesting site,followed by beaches in Broward County, with lesser numbers at Boca RatonPublic Beach, Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge and Sebastian Inlet StateRecreation Area.Nesting numbers According to Berry et al (1984) the total annualnesting number in continental USA, averaged over the years 1977-1982, isaround 182. An extensive monitoring programme initiated in 1979 by theFlorida Department of National Resources now covers a very substantialproportion of the state's nesting habitat. Selected data from thisprogramme (reported by Conley and Hoffman, 1986) are presented in Tables 210and 211.Trends in nesting numbers Dodd (1982) concluded that "in spite of thespurt of development along much of the south-east Florida coast, there canbe little doubt that there are more Green Turtles reported nesting now thanthere were 20 years ago". Similarly, Conley and Hoffman (1986) note anincrease in reported nesting in 1982 and 1983 (Tables 210, 211), followed bya fall, and a record rise in 1985. These authors attribute a significantproportion of the increase in reported nesting to increased survey activity,and note the great variability between years, but are cautiously optimisticthat the actual nesting population is increasing.Dodd (1982) stated that there can be little doubt that the foragingpopulation was once "appreciably larger" than at present, and this issubstantiated by the past existence of turtle fisheries in eastern Floridaand the Gulf; however, there is very little direct evidence of the pastextent of nesting in south-east USA and it may be that the large number ofturtles that foraged in the region nested elsewhere.Table 210. Reported nesting activity by C. mydas in Florida 1979-1985(data from Conley and Hoffman, 1986).Year Nests Nests per km1979 59 0.51980 316 1.71981 89 0.41982 216 1.61983 273 1.61984 172 0.81985 746 3.4541