630 



Fishery Bulletin 100(3) 



Figure 3 



Monthly captures of loggerhead sea turtles less than 85 cm SCL at the St. Lucie Power 

 Plant (1977-98). 



The coastal foraging habitat near Hutchinson Island is 

 also an important developmental habitat for endangered im- 

 mature green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas (Bass and Witzell, 

 2000 ). This is a highly cosmopolitan species with contributions 

 to the Florida foraging grounds from Costa Rica (53%), the 

 United States and Mexico (A2%). and Venezuela and Surinam 

 (4%). It may be advisable for managers to designate specific 

 areas, such as Hutchinson Island, as critical developmental 

 habitats for immature sea turtles and to restrict public access. 



The need for regional and internationally coordinated 

 sea turtle research and management becomes obvious as 

 genetic analysis reveals the complicated mixed stock of 

 foraging turtle aggregations. International organizations, 

 such as the International Union for the Conservation 

 of Nature (lUCN) and the Intergovernmental Oceano- 

 graphic Commission (lOCARIBE) need to become actively 

 involved with the appropriate regional agencies of gov- 

 ernment to ensure the protection of sea turtle stocks in 

 regional as well as international waters. 



Acknowledgments 



Funding for this work was provided from National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, National Science Foundation, and the 

 Turner Foundation. We thank Shiao-Mei Chow and Alicia 

 Francisco for their valuable laboratory support and Jeff 

 Schmid for graphics assistance. We thank Brian Bowen 

 for providing laboratory support and expertise and for 

 reviewing an early draft of this manuscript. Two anony- 

 mous reviewers also provided valuable comments on the 

 final draft manuscript. Finally, we would like to extend 



special thanks to all the biologists who made collections 

 from the nesting locations used in this analysis. 



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