Fernandina Harbor

General Information

Project Type(s):capture

Site Name:Fernandina Harbor

Site Reference Number:42

Region(s):Northeast

Counties:Nassau

Approximate Latitude: 30.71 Approximate Longitude: -81.335

View ArcGIS map of study area

Principal Investigator(s):Dickerson, Charles; Dickerson, Dena; Nelson, David; Reine, Kevin

Point(s) of Contact:Dickerson, Dena - Phone Number: Not Provided, Email: Not Provided; Nelson, David - Phone Number: Not Provided, Email: drdavenelson@msn.com

Organizations Involved:United States Army Corps of Engineers - Vicksburg

Organization Type(s):federal agency

Project Status: Inactive

Start Date: 10/1991

End Date: 3/1993

Equipment and Methods

General Method(s) Used:trawl

Sampling and Effort

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

Bottom Type(s):channel

Water Type Zone: neritic Water Type Environment: marine

Min. Depth (m): 7 Max. Depth (m): 16.7

Mean Depth (m): 12.9

Captures and Sightings Information

Species	No. of Captures	No. of Sightings	Min Size* (cm)	Max Size* (cm)	Mean Size* (cm)	FP Observed	Life Stages**
Green Turtle (Cm)	1	n/a	30.4	0.0	30.4	No	n/r
Loggerhead (Cc)	125	n/a	43.4	92.4	63.9	No	n/r
Kemp's Ridley (Lk)	8	n/a	31.1	60.7	43.2	No	n/r
Hawksbill (Ei)	0	n/a	0.0	0.0	0.0	n/a	n/a
Leatherback (Dc)	0	n/a	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.

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

Project Summary

The Army Corps of Engineers initiated a series of trawl surveys for sea turtles in shipping channels along the southeastern coast of the United States in an effort to determine the seasonality of sea turtle occurrence in the channels. Hopper dredging operations could then be scheduled around sea turtle occurrence in the future. Sea turtles started returning to the Fernandina Harbor channel in early April and remained in the area until early December. The peak month for captures was October. Juvenile loggerheads made up the majority of turtles captured in the channel. Loggerheads originally captured in Fernandina Harbor were later captured in channel trawl surveys in Brunswick Harbor and Cape Canaveral. Kemp’s ridleys were more commonly observed in Fernandina Harbor than in any channel surveyed except Brunswick Harbor.

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