Central Brevard County Reefs

Project Type(s):sighting, capture

Site Name:Central Brevard County Reefs

Site Reference Number:28

Region(s):Southeast

Counties:Brevard

Approximate Latitude: 28.18 Approximate Longitude: -80.57

Principal Investigator(s):Holloway-Adkins, Karen

Point(s) of Contact:Holloway-Adkins, Karen - Phone Number: (321) 432-5545, Email: kgha@earthlink.net

Organizations Involved:East Coast Biologists, Inc., Florida Atlantic University

Organization Type(s):consulting firm, university

Project Status: Active

Start Date: 2003

End Date: n/a

General Method(s) Used:boat survey, set net

	Visual	Capture
Sampling regime:	annually	annually
Measure of effort:		cap/area

Bottom Type(s):hardbottom, worm rock

Water Type Zone: neritic Water Type Environment: marine

Min. Depth (m): 2.4 Max. Depth (m): 16.4

Mean Depth (m): 12.16

Species	No. of Captures	No. of Sightings	Min Size* (cm)	Max Size* (cm)	Mean Size* (cm)	FP Observed	Life Stages**	Comments
Green Turtle (Cm)	72	534	25.2	64.6	34.1	No	n/r
Loggerhead (Cc)	1	2	66.4	0.0	66.4	No	n/r
Kemp's Ridley (Lk)	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	n/a	n/a
Hawksbill (Ei)	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	n/a	n/a
Leatherback (Dc)	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	n/a	n/a

*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.

sonic tracking

This study was initiated in 2003 to characterize the marine turtle populations along the reefs off of central Brevard County. It was expanded in 2005 to provide information on marine turtles utilizing the “Mid Reach” as part of a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Brevard County Shore Protection Study. Both visual transect surveys and tangle netting trips are used to study the turtles in the area. The substrate in the study area consists of hardbottom, worm rocks, coquina, and limestone outcroppings. The water conditions are very dynamic and often turbid due to the close proximity to the intertidal zone. Therefore, tangle nets and dip nets are used east of the reef formation. Juvenile green turtles have made up 99% of visual sightings and all captures. Transects have shown turtles to be fairly evenly distributed across the northern sectors of the study area. Most of the captured green turtles have been in the smaller juvenile size range. Lavage samples are taken to identify the diets of captured turtles and show red algae to make up a major part of green turtle diets. None of the turtles captured have exhibited signs of FP. Turtles are also outfitted with acoustic tracking devices to study their spatial movements.

No documents uploaded.

East Coast Biologists. 2004. Characterizing the population structure and foraging ecology of marine turtles utilizing nearshore reefs in central Brevard County. Report to Marine Turtle Grants Committee, 12 pp.

Holloway-Adkins, K., and Provancha, J. 2005. Abundance and foraging activity of marine turtles using nearshore rock resources along the Mid Reach of Brevard County, Florida. Final report to Olsen Associates, Inc., 45 pp.

Holloway-Adkins, K. 2006. Juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas) foraging on a high-energy, shallow reef on the east coast of Florida, USA. In: Frick, M., et al. (comps.). Book of abstracts. 26th ISTS, Athens, Greece, pp. 193.