NOTE Witzell: Distribution and abundance of sea turtles caught in the western Atlantic Ocean 



201 



1 - Caribbean 



2 - Gulf of Mexico 



3 - Florida east coast 



4 - South Atlantic bight 



5 - Mid-Atlantic bight 



6 - North east coastal 



7 - North east distant 



8 - North equatorial 



9 - Mid-Atlantic Ocean 



Figure 1 



The NMFS pelagic fishing areas. Dashed line represents the 200-m isobath. 



face (Power-). Pelagic longline fishing effort also 

 changes temporally and spatially, depending on tar- 

 get species, season, and location (Fig. 2), although 

 the overall effort for the entire area has not changed 

 significantly over recent years (Cramer, 1996). Most 

 effort is closely associated near the 200-m isobath 

 along the edge of the continental shelf off the U.S. 

 and off the shelf near the southeastern edge of the 

 Grand Banks and often coincides with major current 

 systems and thermally dynamic areas (Podesta et al., 

 1993). The most noticeable seasonal shift in fishing ef- 

 fort is the summer-fall swordfish fishery at the Grand 

 Banks that moves to the Caribbean in the winter. 



Leatherback sea turtles 



A total of 1264 leatherback sea turtle captures were 

 recorded in the NMFS pelagic logbooks for 1992-95 

 (Table 1). Total numbers of individual turtles caught 



^ Power, J. H. 1995. Analysis of the longline fishery effort, 

 catch, and bycatch in the southwest Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. 

 U.S. Dep. Commer. Natl. Mar Fish. Serv. Southeast Regional 

 Office, 9721 Executive Center Drive. North, St. Petersburg, FL 

 33702. NOAA-NMFS-MARFIN Final Report, NA37FF0040- 

 01, 96 p. 



are unknown because some turtles may have become 

 entangled more than once. Year-round leatherback 

 captures averaged 316 individuals per year (range: 

 198-452); June through November were the most 

 important months with 1047 captures (82.7%). The 

 mid-Atlantic, northeast coast, and northeast distant 

 waters (areas 5-7) were the most productive, with 

 1035 (81.9%) combined captures. Of these, the north- 

 east distant (area 7) accounted for 593 (46.8%) of the 

 total leatherback turtle captures. Leatherback sea 

 turtles are captured sporadically throughout the fish- 

 ing area in the winter and spring seasons and be- 

 come more abundant during the summer and fall, 

 particularly in fishing areas 5-7 (Fig. 3). September 

 was the most productive month with 278 (21.9%) 

 captures for these areas combined. Reported catches 

 varied annually (Table 2). Leatherback sea turtles 

 were too large for observers to bring on deck for 

 length and weight measurements, but the mean es- 

 timated carapace length of 1 10 individuals observed 

 from the decks of northwest Atlantic fishing vessels 

 was 160 cm. 



Catch-per-unit-of-effort (CPUE) values indicated 

 that loggerhead sea turtle capture rates varied con- 

 siderably between areas (Table 3) but were highest 



