Environmental Effects of Dredging: Alternative Dredging Equipment and OperationalMethods to Minimize Sea Turtle Mortalities

摘要

Five species of sea turtles occur along the United States coastlines and arelisted as threatened or endangered. The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is listed as threatened, while the Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kenipi), the hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), and the leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) are all less abundant and listed as endangered. Florida breeding populations of the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) are listed as endangered, but green turtles in other US waters are considered threatened. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has determined, based on the best available information, that because of their life cycle and behavioral patterns only the loggerhead, the green, and the Kemp's ridley are put at risk by hopper dredging activities (Studt 1987).