c 



Catherine McClellan and 

 Danielle Waples have been going out in the dark 

 to meet men they don't know in places they've 

 never been before. At least, that's their joke 

 about what they do. 



Since September, McClellan, research 

 specialist with the Duke University Marine Lab 

 in Beaufort, and colleague Waples, have been 

 meeting pound netters in the Pamlico Sound at 

 unseemly hours hoping to find what many dread 

 — sea turtles in fishing nets. 



Usually, that kind of event puts net fishers 

 at loggerheads with fisheries regulations, and sea 

 turtles in danger of their lives. But in this case, 

 the outcome can be fortunate for both. 



That's because McClellan is involved in 

 finding ways to predict turtles' movements to 

 keep them out of fishing nets in the future. It's 

 research that joins prehistory with space-age 

 technology as sea turtles — reptilian refugees 

 from the age of the dinosaurs — are tagged with 

 satellite transmitters. 



It started with a grant awarded to 

 commercial fisher Bill Foster of Hatteras, and 

 Andy Read, marine scientist at the Duke lab. 



"Such academic/fishing industry partnering 

 is a hallmark of the N.C. Fishery Resource Grant 

 program, which combines real-life fishery 

 experience with scientific research," says North 

 Carolina Sea Grant Director Ronald G. Hodson. 



The project is "a window into the lives and 

 movements of sea turtles that we've never had 

 before," Read says. 



'It's very rare to be able to follow enough 

 animals to be able to make sense of their 

 movements," explains Read. 'Turtles are very 

 idiosyncratic. If you look at only a small number 

 of the animals, it may not be representative of all 

 turtles." 



By the study's end, 45 turtles will have 

 been tagged. McClellan conducts the study with 

 Waples as a regular field assistant. 



When sea turtles interact with fishing nets, 

 it's normally a lose-lose proposition. Sea turtles 

 caught in fishing gear drown if unable to surface 

 for air. And when fisheries are implicated in 

 turtle deaths, or when observed interactions 

 exceed the limits established by the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), fisheries can 

 be shut down. The federal Endangered Species 

 Act prohibits any "takes" of sea turtles by 

 humans, McClellan says. 



By tracking sea turtles' movements, 

 researchers hope to find ways to prevent deadly 

 interactions between turtles and fishing gear. 



In 1999, more than 70 dead turtles washed 

 up along sound-side beaches of Ocracoke and 

 Hatteras islands in a mass "stranding." The N.C. 

 Division of Marine Fisheries and NMFS 

 determined that the large mesh (greater than five 

 inches) flounder gillnet fishery was a likely cause, 

 although no net marks were visible on the turtles, 

 which appeared to be healthy prior to death. 



Both agencies prepared an Incidental Take 

 Permit as a way to keep the gillnet fishery open in 

 the future. But the fishery was closed again in 

 2000 when limits for standings and "incidental 

 takes" were exceeded, says Jeff Gearhart, marine 

 biologist with the DMF. 



Shrimp trawls were active in the Pamlico 

 when the standings occurred, but they are 

 equipped with turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, as 

 required by law. TEDs propel turtles out of the 

 trawl nets, says Gearhart. "The devices they use 

 here have been tested by NMFS," he explains. 

 Tests must show that 97 percent of turtles entering 

 a device are ejected out of it. 



Yet the success of the devices is not entirely 

 clear, according to Matthew Godfrey, coordinator 

 for the state's Sea Turtle Project of the N.C. 

 Wildlife Resources Commission. 



"Theoretically, mortality has dropped," he 

 says of the shrimp fishery. "But TEDs don't 

 always work. The same turtles can be caught 

 several times a day, and that stress can cause 

 death." 



The Sea Turtle Dilemma 



Sea turtles, which coexisted with dinosaurs, 

 are now in danger of going the way of them 

 according to McClellan. 



All five species found in North Carolina 

 waters — the green (Chelonia my das), loggerhead 

 (Caretta caretta), Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys 

 kempii), leatherback {Demwchehs coriacea) and 

 the Atlantic hawksbill (Eretmochelys i. imbricata) 

 — are protected by law. All are classified as 

 endangered except the loggerhead, which is 

 considered threatened — and its status may 

 change to endangered, as well. 



The most common sea turtles in the state — 

 and the ones included in the study — are the 

 green, Kemp's ridley and loggerhead. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 17 



