General Information

capture
Deadman Bay
5
Northwest, Northwest
Dixie, Taylor
29.75 -83.68
Barichivich, William; Campbell, Cathi; Carthy, Raymond; Sulak, Kenneth
Barichivich, William - Phone Number: (352) 378-8181, Email: wbarichivich@usgs.gov
Florida Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, National Marine Fisheries Service - Panama City, University of Florida, United States Geological Survey - Gainesville
university, federal agency, university, federal agency
Inactive
4/1996
6/1999

Equipment and Methods

rodeo, set net, strike net

Sampling and Effort

Visual Capture
Sampling regime: annually annually
Measure of effort: unknown cap/area
seagrass
neritic estuarine
0 5.9
0.7

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) 28 n/a 27.9 70.7 42.0 Yes N, S
Loggerhead (Cc) 11 n/a 23.7 66.9 49.6 No O, N
Kemp's Ridley (Lk) 139 n/a 22.2 51.8 34.9 No O, N, S
Hawksbill (Ei) 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Leatherback (Dc) n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 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

diet
growth rates

Project Summary

The shallow seagrass flats and associated channels of the Florida Big Bend support at least three species of marine turtles, principally Kemp’s ridley turtles. Growth rates gathered from Deadman Bay supported a polyphasic growth model by showing a slower growth in the 20 to 29 cm size class than in larger size classes. This is one of the few studies that have documented postpelagic sizes of both Kemp’s ridleys and loggerhead turtles. Kemp’s ridley turtles at this site were smaller than those found near Cedar Key by Schmid (2000; see below). Testosterone radioimmunoassays revealed a female-biased sex ratio in ridleys of 3.7:1. Fecal samples from Kemp’s ridleys showed that the diet of the turtles consisted mainly of crabs and that prey diversity was low. Researchers found netting over seagrass beds and channels to be the most effective method of capturing Kemp’s ridleys. An area known as ‘The Bars,’ just north of the Steinhatchee River Channel, proved to be very productive for netting efforts. Strike-netting was limited to use in areas of good-water quality and was effective when set-netting could not be conducted due to unfavorable conditions, such as strong tides or high boat traffic. The low number of green and loggerhead captures was not so much a reflection of their abundance as a consequence of sampling microhabitats that would maximize Kemp’s ridley captures.

Documents

File Name Type Description
Geis_etal_2005.pdf Journal Article
* This document is available from FWC by request. Email SeaTurtleData@MyFWC.com if you would like a copy. Please include both the project name and file name in your email.
** This document has been provided to FWC but is unavailable for download. Please contact the project PI if you would like a copy.

Literature/Reports Produced

Barichivich, W.J., K.J. Sulak, and R.R. Carthy. 1997. Characterization of Kemp's Ridley sea turtles in the Florida Big Bend area during 1997. Annual report submitted to NMFS and FDEP, 11 pp.

Campbell, C.L., and K.J. Sulak. 1997. Characterization of Kemp's ridley sea turtle in the Florida Big Bend area during 1995 & 1996. Final report to NMFS, 17 pp.

Barichivich, W.J., K.J. Sulak, and R.R. Carthy. 1998. Feeding ecology and habitat affinities of Kemp's Ridley sea turtles in the Big Bend, Florida. Annual report submitted to NMFS and FDEP, 18 pp.

Barichivich, W.J., K.J. Sulak, and R.R. Carthy. 1999. Feeding ecology and habitat affinities of Kemp's Ridley sea turtles in the Big Bend, Florida. Annual report submitted to NMFS and FDEP, 18 pp.

Schmid, J.R. 2000. Characterizing the developmental habitats and habitat utilization by Kemp's ridley turtles using GIS. In: Kalb, H.I., and T. Wibbels (comps.). Proc. 19th ISTS. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SEFSC-443, pp. 185.

Schmid, J.R., and W.J. Barichivich. 2004. Developmental biology and ecology of Kemp's ridley turtles, Lepidochelys kempii, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 4(4):826-832.

Geis, A.A., W.J. Barichivich, T. Wibbels, M. Coyne, A.M. Landry Jr., and D. Owens. 2005 Predicted sex ratio of juvenile Kemp's ridley sea turtles captured near Steinhatchee, Florida. Copeia 2005:393-398.

Schmid, J.R., and W.J. Barichivich. 2007. The Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii). In: Meylan, P.A. (ed.). Biology and conservation of Florida turtles. Chelonian Research Monographs 3, pp. 128-141.