589 
Abstract .—Large-mesh tangle nets 
were used to collect marine turtles in 
Waccasassa Bay, near the Cedar Keys, 
Florida, from June 1986 to October 
1995. Tagging records were analyzed to 
determine the species composition, 
population structure, and seasonal oc- 
currence of Kemp’s ridley, Lepidochelys 
kempii, loggerhead, Caretta caretta , 
and green, Chelonia mydas , turtles. 
Additional information on local move- 
ments, morphometries, growth, popu- 
lation estimation, and diet was pro- 
vided for Kemp’s ridley turtles. Sub- 
adult green turtles dominated the catch 
on the seagrass shoals of Waccasassa 
Reefs. Subadult Kemp’s ridley turtles 
and, to a lesser degree, subadult and 
adult loggerhead turtles were primarily 
captured near the oyster bars of Cor- 
rigan Reef. Marine turtles were caught 
in these nearshore waters from April 
to November. Recaptures indicate that 
some Kemp’s ridley turtles remain in 
the vicinity of Corrigan Reef during 
their seasonal occurrence and return to 
this foraging area annually. Seasonal 
and annual size distributions of Kemp’s 
ridley turtles were investigated and 
regression equations were developed 
for carapace morphometries. Carapace 
growth averaged 4-5 cm/yr for Kemp’s 
ridley turtles, but growth analyses were 
confounded by the extrapolation of an- 
nual estimates from short-term recap- 
tures. Population estimates for the 
Kemp’s ridley mark-recapture data in- 
dicated a mean annual population size 
of 159 turtles at Corrigan Reef with 
presumably high rates of immigration 
and emigration by larger subadult 
turtles. Examination of fecal samples 
indicated that crabs were the primary 
food items of Kemp’s ridley turtles cap- 
tured near oyster bars. 
Manuscript accepted 26 January 1998. 
Fishery Bulletin 96:589-602 (1998). 
Marine turtle populations on the 
west-central coast of Florida: 
results of tagging studies at the 
Cedar Keys, Florida, 1 986-1 995 
Jeffrey R. Schmid 
Southeast Fisheries Science Center 
National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 
75 Virginia Beach Drive 
Miami, Florida 33 1 49 
and 
Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research 
University of Florida 
223 Bartram Hall 
Gainesville, Florida 3261 I 
E-mail address: jeffrey.schmid@noaa.gov 
Historical information concerning 
marine turtles in the coastal waters 
of Florida is limited to landing sta- 
tistics and observational data asso- 
ciated with the commercial turtle 
fishery (Ehrhart, 1983). During the 
late 1800s, large-mesh tangle nets 
were used to catch significant num- 
bers of green turtles, Chelonia 
mydas , in the Indian River Lagoon 
and around the Cedar Keys (True, 
1887; Brice, 1896). These turtles 
were exported to markets in the 
northeastern United States. Kemp’s 
ridley , Lepidochelys kempii , and log- 
gerhead turtles, Caretta caretta , 
were also captured and used as a 
food resource in local markets, but 
the landings of these species were 
not recorded in fisheries reports 
(Witzell, 1994a). The Florida fish- 
ery for marine turtles was greatly 
reduced by 1900 (Ingle and Smith, 
1949). However, there are no quan- 
titative data to demonstrate accu- 
rately that depletion had occurred 
as a result of overfishing (Caldwell 
and Carr, 1957). The lack of defini- 
tive data is further complicated by 
the fact that most of the fishery sta- 
tistics reported for Florida after 
1900 include green turtles imported 
from Costa Rica and Nicaragua by 
way of Key West, and no distinction 
was made between turtles caught 
in Florida and those imported from 
the Caribbean (Ingle and Smith, 
1949; Caldwell and Carr, 1957; 
Witzell, 1994a, 1994b). 
The first scientific investigations 
and conservation efforts for marine 
turtles were implemented fifty 
years after the reduction of the 
turtle fishery. Ingle and Smith 
(1949) and Carr (1952) outlined sci- 
entific data necessary for the pro- 
tection and restoration of green 
turtles throughout their range. Carr 
and Caldwell (1956) conducted a 
one-year tagging study of green and 
Kemp’s ridley turtles purchased 
from Cedar Key fish houses and 
provided the first details on size 
ranges, morphometries, local move- 
ments, growth rates, and popula- 
tion estimates for these species. 
Florida enacted legislation in 1956 
that prohibited the take of nesting 
female turtles and their eggs (Cald- 
well and Carr, 1957; Ehrhart, 1983). 
