Annual report-1996 season Dry Tortugas National Park sea turtle monitoring program Monroe County, Florida

Mansfield, Katherine; Reardon, Russell

The 1996 Dry Tortugas Sea Turtle Monitoring Program recorded a total of 504 turtle crawls, 392 of which (77.8%) were loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and 112 (22.2%) were green turtle crawls (Chelonia mydas). This is the most green turtle activity recorded by researchers in the Dry Tortugas to date. A total of 238 nests and 266 false crawls were documented within the park, with 48 of the nests and 64 of the false crawls identified as green. The greatest activity by both loggerhead and green turtle species occurred on East Key (64.8%), followed by Loggerhead Key (27.8%). The average loggerhead incubation was 52.6 days, with an average clutch size of 99.5 eggs. The average incubation of green nests was 51.6 days with an average clutch size of 131 eggs. Severe weather, coupled with spring high tides resulted in 67 nests being flood d with salt water, 23 of which were completely eroded away by tidal activity. The resulting hatching success of inventoried nests for the entire park, including both species, was 77. 1%, with a release rate of 7 5. 9% ( n=2 07). The average loggerhead hatching success was 79.7%, with a release rate o 78.8%, and the average green turtle hatch rate was 73.1%, with a release rate of 70.7%. A total o 16,818 hatchlings were recorded to have entered the Gulf of Mexico. During the last two years of daily monitoring throughout the entire nesting season, the Dry Tortugas Sea Turtle Monitoring Program has recorded a total of 1,2 1 turtle crawls, including 690 false crawls, and 511 nests containing an estimated 38,880 number of eggs releasing approximately 30,620 hatchlings. A total of over 2,297 crawls including 871 nests and 1,408 false crawls have been recorded by researchers within the Park since 1982.