590 
Fishery Bulletin 96(3), 1998 
Restrictions were imposed on the Florida turtle fish- 
ery in 1971, which consisted of closed seasons and 
size limits (Ingle, 1972). By 1978, all species of ma- 
rine turtles were listed as threatened or endangered 
in the Endangered Species Act and protected under 
federal legislation. 
Listing marine turtles in the Endangered Species 
Act outlawed their harvest and prompted surveys 
on nesting beaches and adjacent coastal waters in 
Florida (Carr et al., 1982). Entanglement nets, de- 
signed similarly to those formerly used in the turtle 
fishery, were employed to capture green and logger- 
head turtles inhabiting the northern Indian River 
Lagoon System (Ehrhart and Yoder, 1978; Mendonga, 
1981, 1983; Mendonga and Ehrhart, 1982; Ehrhart, 
1983). These fishery-independent studies provided 
the first biological data on population size and struc- 
ture, growth rates, and activity patterns for the pre- 
viously exploited species of marine turtle in the la- 
goonal habitat. Trawls associated with the commer- 
cial shrimp fishery were used to collect turtles oc- 
curring in and around the Port Canaveral ship chan- 
nel (Carr et al., 1980; Henwood, 1987; Henwood and 
Ogren, 1987). Information obtained from these fish- 
ery-dependent surveys includes size class distribu- 
tion, seasonal occurrence, and migrations of logger- 
head, Kemp’s ridley, and green turtles. 
In 1984, the National Marine Fisheries Service 
(NMFS) initiated long-term tagging studies of ma- 
rine turtles occurring in the coastal waters of Florida, 
with emphasis placed on the critically endangered 
Kemp’s ridley turtle (Ogren, 1989; Schmid and 
Ogren, 1990, 1992). Rudloe et al. (1991) reported on 
the size-class distribution, seasonal occurrence, and 
variations in carapace length by season and water 
depth for Kemp’s ridley turtles incidentally captured 
in commercial fisheries of northwest Florida. Tag- 
ging records of turtles captured in the east-central 
Florida shrimp fishery provided additional data on 
species composition, size-class distribution, seasonal 
occurrence and migrations, morphometric relation- 
ships, and growth data for marine turtles along the 
Atlantic coast (Schmid, 1995). Fishery-independent 
capture techniques have also been used to collect 
marine turtles in the nearshore waters of west-cen- 
tral Florida and preliminary results of these efforts 
have been given by Schmid and Ogren (1990, 1992). 
The present paper analyzes tagging records collected 
near the Cedar Keys, Florida, from 1986 to 1995 in 
order to determine the species composition, popula- 
tion structure, and seasonal occurrence of Kemp’s 
ridley, loggerhead, and green turtles. Additional in- 
formation on local movements, morphometries, 
growth, population estimation, and diet are provided 
for Kemp’s ridley turtles. 
Materials and methods 
Study area 
Marine turtles were collected east of the Cedar Keys 
in Waccasassa Bay, which is located on the west coast 
of Florida (Fig. 1). The northern and eastern bound- 
aries of Waccasassa Bay are saltmarsh coastline in- 
undated by numerous tidal creeks. The Waccasassa 
River flows into the northeast corner of the bay and 
is the main contributor of freshwater to the estua- 
rine system (Wolfe, 1990). The western edge of the 
bay is semi-enclosed by the Cedar Keys, whereas the 
southern portion is open to tidal exchange with the 
Gulf of Mexico. Corrigan Reef, located in northwest- 
ern Waccasassa Bay, and Waccasassa Reefs, located 
in the eastern half of the bay, are the prominent geo- 
graphic features of this shallow embayment. 
Netting efforts were concentrated at three sites 
along Corrigan Reef (Fig. 1; site 1: 29°09'N, 82°58'W; 
site 2: 29°08'N, 82°58'W; and site 3: 29°07'N, 82°58'W), 
approximately 5 km east of the Cedar Keys. Corrigan 
Reef comprises a series of oyster ( Crassostera vir- 
ginica) beds in the northern region (site 1) and oys- 
ter shell bars in the southern region (sites 2 and 3). 
Limestone outcroppings occur among the mud and 
sand flats and in channels on the periphery of oyster 
bars. Netting was also conducted at the outer shoal 
of Waccasassa Reefs (29°06'N, 82°53'W), approxi- 
mately 12 km east-southeast of the Cedar Keys. 
Waccasassa Reefs are composed of three seagrass 
shoals with a broad, deep-channel cutting midway 
through each shoal. The tides in both of these areas 
are mixed, with two highs and two lows of variable 
amplitude. Strong tidal currents flow through the 
channels, particularly during the new and full moon 
phases (spring tides). 
Data collection 
Seasonal netting was conducted at Corrigan Reef 
from 1986 to 1991 and at Waccasassa Reefs from 1986 
to 1988 (see Table 1 for effort and months fished each 
year). A full year of sampling was performed at 
Corrigan Reef in 1992 and 1993. Water temperatures 
were recorded sporadically from 1986 to 1991 and 
monthly for 1992 and 1993. Netting surveys were 
performed for 1-3 days every other week during the 
neap tides. One or two nylon mesh tangle nets (61- 
or 51-cm stretch mesh, 20 meshes deep, and 65 m 
length) were set across a channel at a given site and 
fished over a 6- to 12-hour tidal cycle. Nets were 
checked hourly or immediately after an entangled 
turtle had been sighted. Research efforts shifted from 
netting surveys to telemetric monitoring during 1994 
