Evaluation of TED Opening Dimensions Relative to Size of Turtles Stranding in the Western North Atlantic

摘要

Beginning in the fall of 1987, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) seasonally required Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in shrimp trawl nets on most boats operating in ocean waters off the southeastern U.S. as a mechanism to reduce the incidental catch of turtles in general and the catch of the large immature stage in particular. Boats working in inshore waters were allowed to use tow time limits in lieu of TEDs. The difference between offshore and inshore regulations was due, in part, to the lack of information on the distribution and abundance of sea turtles in inshore waters and to the lack of documentation of incidental captures by shrimp trawlers working in these inshore waters. Full implementation of the regulations was delayed until 1989 in offshore waters and until 1990 in inshore waters. The purpose of this study was to compare the sizes of stranded sea turtles with the size of the TED openings. This evaluation was prompted by the need, identified by NMFS' Turtle Expert Working Group (TEWG), to reduce the strandings of mature loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from the northern subpopulation. We compared the sizes of stranded loggerhead, green (Chelonia mydas), and Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) sea turtles, the three species most commonly found in the strandings, to the minimum opening sizes of TEDs.