Proceedings fo the Seventeenth Annual Sea Turtle Symposium, 4-8 March 1997, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. Item Type monograph Authors Epperly, Sheryan P.; Braun, Joanne Publisher NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service/Southeast Fisheries Science Center Download date 11/10/2021 08:18:37 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/20036 NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-415 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL SEA TURTLE SYMPOSIUM 4-8 March 1997 Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. Compilers: Sheryan P. Epperly Joanne Braun December 1998 U. S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center 75 Virginia Beach Drive Miami, FL 33149 NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-415 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL SEA TURTLE SYMPOSIUM 4-8 March 1997 Orlando, Florida U.S.A. Compilers: Sheryan P. Epperly Joanne Braun U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE William M. Daley, Secretary NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION D. James Baker, Administrator NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE Rolland A. Schmitten, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries December 1998 Technical Memoranda are used for documentation and timely communication of preliminary results, interim reports, or special-purpose information, and have not received complete formal review, editorial control, or detailed editing. NOTICE The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) does not approve, recommend or endorse any proprietary product or material mentioned in this publication. No reference shall be made to NMFS, or to this publication furnished by NMFS, in any advertising or sales promotion which would indicate or imply that NMFS approves, recommends or endorses any proprietary product or proprietary material herein or which has as its purpose any intent to cause directly or indirectly the advertised product to be used or purchased because of NMFS publication. Correct citation of this report is: Epperly, S.P. and J. Braun, compilers. 1998. Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Sea Turtle Symposium. U.S. Dep. Commer. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SEFSC-415, 294 pp. Technical Editor: W.N. Witzell Copies of this report can be obtained from: National Marine Fisheries Service Miami Laboratory Sea Turtle Program 75 Virginia Beach Drive Miami, FL 33149 or National Technical Information Service 5258 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 (703) 487-4650, Fax (703) 321-8547 Rush orders: (800) 336-4700 ii PREFACE The 17th Annual Sea Turtle Symposium was held at the Delta Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida U.S.A. from March 4-8, 1997. The symposium was hosted by Florida Atlantic University, Mote Marine Laboratory, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, Florida Atlantic University and the Comité Nacional para la Conservación y Protección de las Totugas Marinas. The 17th was the largest symposium to date. A total of 720 participants registered, including sea turtle biologists, students, regulatory personnel, managers, and volunteers representing 38 countries. In addition to the United States, participants represented Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Bonaire, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, England, Guatemala, Greece, Honduras, India, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Seychelles, Scotland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In addition to the 79 oral, 2 video, and 120 poster presentations, 3 workshops were offered: Selina Heppell (Duke University Marine Laboratory) provided “Population Modeling,” Mike Walsh and Sam Dover (Sea World-Orlando) conducted “Marine Turtle Veterinary Medicine” and “Conservation on Nesting Beaches” was offered by Blair Witherington and David Arnold (Florida Department of Environmental Protection). On the first evening, P.C.H. Pritchard delivered a thoughtful retrospect on Archie Carr that showed many sides of a complex man who studied and wrote about sea turtles. It was a presentation that none of us will forget. The members considered a number of resolutions at the Thursday business meeting and passed six. Five of these resolutions are presented in the Commentaries and Reviews section of Chelonian Conservation and Biology 2(3):442-444 (1997). The symposium was fortunate to have many fine presentations competing for the Archie Carr Best Student Presentations awards. The best oral presentation award went to Amanda Southwood (University of British Columbia) for “Heart rates and dive behavior of the leatherback sea turtle during the internesting interval.” The two runners-up were Richard Reina (Australian National University) for “Regulation of salt gland activity in Chelonia mydas” and Singo Minamikawa (Kyoto University) for “The influence that artificial specific gravity change gives to diving behavior of loggerhead turtles”. The winner of this year’s best poster competition was Mark Roberts (University of South Florida) for his poster entitled “Global population structure of green sea Turtles (Chelonia mydas) using microsatellite analysis of male mediated gene flow.” The two runners-up were Larisa Avens (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill) for “Equilibrium responses to rotational displacements by hatchling sea turtles: maintaining a migratory heading in a turbulent ocean” and Annette Broderick (University of Glasgow) for “Female size, not length, is a correlate of reproductive output.” The symposium was very fortunate to receive a matching monetary and subscription gift from Anders J. G. Rhodin of the Chelonian Research Foundation. These enabled us to more adequately reward the fine work of students. The winners of the best paper and best poster awards received $400 plus a subscription to Chelonian Conservation and Biology. Each runner up received $100. The symposium owes a great debt to countless volunteers who helped make the meeting a success. Those volunteers include: Jamie Serino, Alan Bolton, and Karen Bjorndal, along with the UF students provided audio visual help, John Keinath chaired the student awards committee, Mike Salmon chaired the Program Commiteee, Sheryan Epperly and Joanne Braun compiled the Proceedings, Edwin Drane served as treasurer and provided much logistical help, Jane Provancha coordinated volunteers, Thelma Richardson conducted registration, Vicki Wiese coordinated food and beverage services, Jamie Serino and Erik Marin coordinated entertainment, Kenneth Dodd oversaw student travel awards, Traci Guynup, Tina Brown, Jerris Foote, Dan Hamilton, Richie Moretti, and Vicki Wiese served on the time and place committee, Blair Witherington created the trivia quiz, Tom McFarland donated the symposium logo, Deborah Crouse chaired the resolutions committee, Pamela Plotkin chaired the nominations committee, Sally Krebs, Susan Schenk, and Larry Wood conducted the silent auction, and Beverly and Tom McFarland coordinated all 26 vendors. Many individuals from outside the United States were able to attend the 17th Annual Sea Turtle Symposium thanks to the tireless work of Karen Eckert, Marydele Donnelly, and Jack Frazier in soliciting travel assistance for a number of international participants. We are indebted to those donating money to the internationals’ housing fund (Flo Vetter Memorial Fund, Marinelife Center of Juno Beach, Roger Mellgren, and Jane Provancha). We raise much iii of our money for international travel from the auction; thanks go to auctioneer Bob Shoop, who kept our auction fast- paced and entertaining, and made sure the bidding was high. The Annual Sea Turtle Symposium is unequaled in its emphasis on international participation. Through international participation we all learn a great deal more about the biology of sea turtles and the conservation issues that sea turtles face in distant waters. Additionally, those attending the symposium come away with a tremendous wealth of knowledge, professional contacts, and new friendships. The Annual Sea Turtle Symposium is a meeting in which pretenses are dropped, good science is presented, and friendly, open communication is the rule. The camaraderie that typifies these meetings ultimately translates into understanding and cooperation. These aspects, combined, have gone and will go a long way toward helping to protect marine turtles and toward aiding their recovery on a global scale. Jeanette Wyneken, Ph.D. 1997 Symposium Coordinator and President Jeannie Fulford and Beverly Harvey imported files and typed abstracts as necessary. Art Schwarzschild provided assistance in reading MacIntosh files. Jack Frazier helped with translation. We are grateful for their contributions. Sheryan P. Epperly and Joanne Braun 1997 Symposium Proceedings Compilers SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL SEA TURTLE SYMPOSIUM EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Jeanette Wyneken President F. Alberto Abreu-Grobois President Elect Richard Byles Past President Thelma Richardson Secretary Edwin Drane Treasurer BOARD OF DIRECTORS Molly Lutcavage 1997 alternate C. Robert Shoop 1997 Benito Pinto Rodriguez 1997 C. Kenneth Dodd 1998 Llewellyn Ehrhart 1998 Deborah Crouse 1999 Blair Witherington 1999 Jack Frazier 2000 Tom McFarland 2000 Colin Limpus 2001 Joca Tomé 2001 iv CONTENTS Page * denotes best student presentation candidate 1 PART I. ORAL AND VIDEO PRESENTATIONS SESSION 1: CONSERVATION PHILOSOPHY: THEORY AND PRACTICE 20 Campbell, L. How do we get there from here? Implementing effective conservation policy. 46 Ehrhart, L.M. Habitat protection revisited: debunking the Noah solution. 107 Wilcox, J. R