General Information

incidental
St. Lucie Power Plant
23
Southeast
St. Lucie
27.35 -80.23
Bresette, Michael
Bresette, Michael - Phone Number: (772) 467-7726, Email: mbresette@inwater.org
Inwater Research Group, Inc.
non-profit
Active
1/1976
n/a

Equipment and Methods

intake canal

Sampling and Effort

Visual Capture
Sampling regime: annually annually
Measure of effort: cap/area
sand, shell
neritic marine
0 10.2
5.4

Captures and Sightings Information

Species No. of
Captures		 No. of
Sightings		 Min Size*
(cm)		 Max Size*
(cm)		 Mean Size*
(cm)		 FP
Observed		 Life Stages** Comments
Green Turtle (Cm) 6001 n/a 18.7 108.3 41.6 No n/r
Loggerhead (Cc) 8095 n/a 39.7 108.9 70.2 No n/r
Kemp's Ridley (Lk) 54 n/a 24.5 66.9 44.0 No n/r
Hawksbill (Ei) 55 n/a 33.0 84.9 56.7 No n/r
Leatherback (Dc) 35 n/a 110.0 157.0 134.4 No n/r
*All size measurements are SSCL unless otherwise indicated
** For Cm, Cc, Lk, & Ei: O - Oceanic-stage juvenile; N - Neritic-stage juvenile; S - Subadult; A - Adult. For Dc: I - Immature; A - Adult. n/a = not applicable; n/r = not reported.

This report adheres to the following size ranges for life stage classification for these species:

Green turtle Loggerhead Kemp's ridley Hawksbill
Oceanic-stage juvenile < 25 cm SCL < 30 cm SCL < 25 cm SCL < 25 cm SCL
Neritic-stage juvenile 25-69 cm SCL 30-69 cm SCL 25-39 cm SCL 25-64 cm SCL
Subadult 70-84 cm SCL 70-79 cm SCL 40-59 cm SCL 65-74 cm SCL
Adult ≥ 85 cm SCL ≥ 80 cm SCL ≥ 60 cm SCL ≥ 75 cm SCL
Leatherback
Immature < 135 cm OCL
Adult ≥ 135 cm OCL

Other Information Collected

blood chemistry
growth rates
tag retention

Project Summary

Sea turtles become caught in the St. Lucie Power Plant intake pipes and are pulled through to the intake canal where they are retrieved and examined before release. Historically, most captures in the intake canal were loggerhead turtles. From 1976 to 1992, 83% of captures were loggerhead turtles, and only 15% were green turtles. An increase in the green turtle capture rate began in 1992 and they now account for more than 40% of captures. A high level of site fidelity of green turtles to the nearshore worm-rock reefs and areas around the power plant has been documented. Green turtles enter this habitat at 25 to 30 cm SCL and leave as they approach 65 cm SCL. An increase in the green turtle recapture rate from 5% in 1994 to 48.5% in 2003 indicates that the population may be approaching saturation-tagging in this area. Loggerhead captures are predominantly juveniles in the 50-70 cm SCL range. Most adult loggerheads captured are females that may be attempting to nest on nearby beaches. Witzell et al. (2002) used mixed stock analysis with genetic markers found in mtDNA to determine that three different western Atlantic subpopulations contribute to juvenile loggerheads caught in the St. Lucie Power Plant intake canal. Results indicated that 69% were from south Florida, 20% from Mexico, and 10% from northeastern Florida-North Carolina.

Documents

No documents uploaded.

Literature/Reports Produced

Wibbels, T., D.W. Owens, and M.S. Amoss. 1987. Seasonal changes in the serum testosterone titers of loggerhead sea turtles captured along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. In: Witzell, W.N. (ed.). Ecology of East FL Sea Turtles. NMFS-53, pp. 59-64.

Wibbels, T., et al. 1987. Sexing techniques and sex ratios for immature loggerhead sea turtles captured along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. In: Witzell, W.N. (ed.). Ecology of East FL Sea Turtles. NMFS-53, pp. 65-74.

Martin, R.E., et al. 1989. Size distribution and seasonal abundance of loggerhead and green turtlens in nearshore waters off St. Lucie Power Plant, Florida. In: Ogren, L., et al. (comps.). Proc. 2nd W. Atlantic Turtle Symp. NMFS-SEFSC-226, pp. 334-335.

Bresette, M., J. Gorham, and B. Peery. 1998. Site fidelity and size frequencies of juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas) utilizing near shore reefs in St. Lucie County, Florida. Marine Turtle Newsletter 82, pp. 5-7.

Gorham, J.C., M.J. Bresette, and B.P. Peery. 1998. Comparative tag retention rates for two styles of flipper tags. In: Epperly, S. P., and J. Braun (comps.). Proc. 17th ISTS. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SEFSC-415, pp. 190-193.

Wilcox, J.R., G. Bouska, J. Gorham, B. Peery, and M. Bresette. 1998. Knee deep in green turtles: Recent trends in capture rates at the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant. In: Byles, R., and Y. Fernandez (comps.). Proc. 16th ISTS. NMFS-SEFSC-412, pp. 147-148.

Bass, A.L., and W.N. Witzell. 2000. Demographic composition of immature green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from the east central Florida coast: evidence from mtDNA markers. Herpetologica 56:357-367.

Gorham, J.C., and M.J. Bresette. 2000. Bias-free estimates of measurement error in sea turtle morphometric data collection. In: Kalb. H., and T. Wibbels (comps.). Proc. 19th ISTS. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SEFSC-443, pp. 178-179.

Bresette, M., and J. Gorham. 2001. Growth rates of juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from the Atlantic coastal waters of St. Lucie County, Florida, USA. Marine Turtle Newsletter No. 91, pp. 7-8.

Herren, R.M., M.J. Bresette, and D.A. Singewald. 2001. Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) growth rates from nearshore Atlantic waters. In: Coyne, M.S., and M.D. Clark (comps.). Proc. 21st ISTS. NOAA Tech Memo. NMFS-SEFSC-528, pp. 186-187.

Witzell, W.N., A.L. Bass, M.J. Bresette, D.A. Singewald, and J.C. Gorham. 2002. Originof immature loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) at St. Lucie Power Plant, Florida: evidence from mtDNA markers. Fisheries Bulletin 100:624-631.

Bresette, M.J., R.M.Herren, and D.A. Singewald. 2004. Comparison of fibropapillomarates of green turtles (Cm) from two different sites in St. Lucie County, Florida. In: Coyne, M.S., and M.D. Clark (comps.). Proc. 21st ISTS. NMFS-SEFSC-528, pp. 125-126.

Bresette, M., D. Singewald, E. De Maye. 2006. Recruitment of post-pelagic green turtles (Cm) to nearshore reefs on Florida’s east coast. In: Frick, M., et al. (comps.). Book of abstracts. 26th ISTS. Athens, Greece, pp. 288.