Arendt et al.: Catch rates and demographics of Caretta caretta captured from the Charleston, South Carolina, shipping channel 
105 
Table 3 
Haplotype distribution by straight-line carapace length (SCLnt) groupings among 213 loggerhead sea turtles ( Caretta caretta ) 
captured from the Charleston, South Carolina, shipping channel (2004-07). Only loggerheads <75.0 cm SCLnt possessed hap- 
lotype designations other than regionally dominant (CC-A01 and CC-A02) haplotypes. Additionally, one loggerhead possessed a 
new haplotype that was not previously described and is pending an official designation. 
SCLnt 
CC-A01 
CC-A02 
CC-A03 CC-A07 CC-A09 CC-A10 CC-A13 
CC-A14 New Total 
<75.0 cm 
93 
65 
4 2 14 1 
7 1 178 
75.1 to 85.0 cm 
12 
7 
19 
>85.1 cm 
8 
8 
16 
ery in the Northwest Atlantic provided that the trends 
reported here are indicative of a larger pattern and 
that these cohorts survive to maturity. Catch variability 
was noted within both study periods; however, between 
2004 and 2007 only catch rates in August 2005 did not 
exceed 1991—92 levels. Comparison of loggerhead catch 
rates in the present study with loggerhead catch rates 
in 1991 (Van Dolah et al. 2 ) suffered from low loggerhead 
catch rates (i.e., <1 loggerhead per month) as well as low 
monthly sampling effort (i.e., 11 to 12 daytime trawls 
per month). Furthermore, a peak daytime catch rate 
of six loggerheads occurred in July 1991 (Van Dolah et 
al. 2 ), but these data were not analyzed because we did 
not sample in July during 2004-07. However, high catch 
rates in July 1991 represented an anomaly relative to 
other catch rates during 1991-92 and were analogous 
to high catch rates in May 2004 relative to other catch 
rates during 2004-07. Given limited overlap in catch 
rates between study periods we contend that loggerhead 
catch rates (and presumably abundance) in this shipping 
channel have increased since the early 1990s. 
Lower recapture rates in 2004-07 relative to the two 
previous studies were also consistent with the sugges- 
tion that more loggerheads used the Charleston ship- 
ping channel in this study than in the early 1990s. 
During monthly trawl surveys that spanned 11 to 16 
months each, Van Dolah and Maier (1993) recaptured 
seven of 53 (13%) loggerheads and Dickerson et al. 1 
recaptured four of 45 (9%) loggerheads. Loggerhead 
recaptures during the two previous studies also oc- 
curred in pulses. For example, in September 1991 a 
loggerhead was recaptured in both studies that had 
