-3- 



to the fishermen. Lutcavage did note (pers. comm.) that Leaders that were 

 taut when staked appeared to catch fewer turtles than those that were 

 loosely staked and billowy. She also noticed that catch frequency varied 

 considerably with both location and date, suggesting that the turtles may 

 move in loose aggregations. She suggested that keeping track of these 

 turtle movements and temporarily limiting fishing near concentrations might 

 be a more viable protection alternative than requiring smaller mesh or 

 attempting to release turtles from the extensive, deep leaders. 



Shoop (pers. comm.) also reported turtles becoming trapped in pound 

 nets in New York and Rhode Island. Although he has been told some fisher- 

 men kill turtles before dumping them, he has no direct evidence of such 

 mortality. In fact, many fishermen cooperated with him and the turtles are 

 tagged before release. He made no mention of entanglement in leaders. 



Other Traps — There were also several references to entanglement with 

 lobster traps and crab pots. Two types of mortality are possible here: 

 entanglement in buoy lines below the surface may lead to drowning, and 

 entangled animals may be killed by fishermen as nuisances. Again there is 

 no documentation of mortality rates. 



Higman and Davis (1978) reported on the damage done by turtles to 

 spiny lobster gear in the Florida Keys. They presented strong circumstan- 

 tial evidence that loggerhead turtles cause considerable damage to lobster 

 traps in highly localized areas. This damage appeared to be a result of 

 direct action by the turtles, presumably trying to feed on barnacles 

 growing on the gear and/or the lobsters caught in the traps. Although 

 actual turtle mortality was not investigated, it was noted that damage 

 rates were substantially reduced in areas where the turtles were "removed". 



Trawls — Shrimp trawls are a common cause of mortality. This has been 

 studied and reported elsewhere (Hillestad et al., 1977; etc.). 



Bullis and Drummond (1978) analyzed 26 years worth of exploratory 

 trawling activities conducted by NMFS research vessels. A total of 53 

 turtles were taken during 7,625 hours of trawling effort: 41 loggerheads, 

 7 greens, 4 hawksbills, and 1 leatherback. Although the turtle capture per 

 hour rate was higher for bottomfish trawls than shrimp trawls, it was noted 

 that none of these data came from inside waters, which might have a higher 

 turtle density. 



In November, 1980, and December, 1981, there were sharp localized 

 pulses of stranding reports off Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and 

 Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina. Schwartz and others 

 attributed this to the winter trawl fishery, primarily for flounder, which 

 has followed the fish south from Virginia at this time of year. Others 

 have suggested that this may be due to a recent major conversion in the 

 king mackerel fishery in this region, from hook-and-line to 6in stretched- 

 mesh gill nets. This situation needs investigation. 



