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LOGGERHEAD

TRACKING THE UNDERWATER MOVEMENTS OF SUBADULT LOGGERHEAD TURTLES

To better understand the underwater movements of subadult loggerhead (Caretta caretta) turtles using the artificial reefs in Brevard County, Florida, ECB fitted 9 turtles (and counting) with acoustic transmitters. These transmitters emit a unique series of sounds to receivers stationed underwater, logging and identifying the tag series of that turtle. These stations are part of a larger network known as the FACT Network, allowing scientists to collaborate and share tracking data of one another's tagged species. This collaboration is how we learned how far our turtles have travelled outside of our study area. Just check out our shark bite survivor Jawsome Jade below!

JAWSOME JADE

Jade is a subadult loggerhead turtle and a shark attack survivor that was hand-captured on the southernmost artificial reef site of the Brevard County study area in August 2021. After leaving the artificial reef, Jade was detected on a receiver 21 days later located at Sebastian Inlet. Jade went through the inlet and into the Indian River Lagoon, traveling south and exiting out of the lagoon at the St. Lucie Inlet in October 2021. Jade kept going, traveling south along the coast for the next two months, making a few pit stops at Jupiter Inlet, Palm Beach Inlet, and Key Biscayne before arriving at Card Sound in December 2021. Jade’s track is pretty amazing, especially considering that he/she is missing parts of its front flippers and has other healed wounds from an obvious shark attack. Of all the acoustic tagged turtles, Jade has traveled the furthest.

The loggerheads tracked in this initial study have shown diverse movement patterns. Except for one loggerhead, most turtles appear to be transiting through the reef and surrounding areas of Brevard County - possibly just using the reefs as a temporary pit stop for resting and foraging. This study is the first study of its kind to track subadult loggerheads using the nearshore and artificial reefs in east Florida. The acoustic tags have a battery life of approximately 10 years. The longer the tracking tags stay on the turtles, the more insightful the data and information gathered will be to help us learn where these immature animals go and the habitats (natural and/or artificial) they prefer. Only time will tell!

PROJECT FUNDERS

The 2023 expanded study was funded in part by the Sea Turtle Grants Program provided by sales from the Florida Sea Turtle License Plate and the intial 2021 study by National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation. Thank you to our funders for helping us determine whether subadult loggerheads using the artificial reefs are transient or resident through acoustic telemetry tracking.

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