Kemp's Ridley Head Start Experiment and Other Sea Turtle Research at the Galveston Laboratory: Annual Report-Fiscal Year 1989

摘要

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Galveston Laboratory completed its eleventh year of the head start experiment by releasing 808 tagged Kemp's ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempi), of the 1988 year-class on 25 May 1989 offshore of Padre Island, TX. Currently, 19,657 Kemp's ridley hatchlings have been received for head starting of which 14,655 have been tagged and released (74.6%). Most hatchlings have been imprinted to Padre Island but some have been imprinted to Rancho Nuevo and Grand Cayman Island. In July 1989, 2,012 hatchlings of the 1989 year-class were flown by U. S. Coast Guard helicopter to the head start facilities. During fiscal year 1989, DNA analyses of blood samples from Kemp's ridley and green sea turtles was successfully used to determine sex and routine histological examination for sex determination of gonads and kidneys taken from ridleys that died during head starting continued. In addition, two and three year-old head started kemp's ridleys were used in stress physiology studies related to turtle excluder device (TED) certification trials in Florida.