NMFS Turtle Tracking
NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC)

NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC)

Satellite telemetry from 26 loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and 10 olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) sea turtles captured and released from pelagic longline fishing gear provided information on the turtles' position and movement in the central North Pacific. These data, together with environmental data from satellite remote sensing, are used to describe the oceanic habitat used by these turtles. The results indicate that loggerheads travel westward, move seasonally north and south primarily through the region 28-40 deg N, and occupy sea surface temperatures (SST) of 15-25 deg C. Their dive depth distribution indicated that they spend 40% of their time at the surface and 90% of their time at depths <40 m. Loggerheads are found in association with fronts, eddies, and geostrophic currents. Specifically, the Transition Zone Chlorophyll Front (TZCF) and the southern edge of the Kuroshio Extension Current (KEC) appear to be important forage and migration habitats for loggerheads. In contrast, olive ridleys were found primarily south of loggerhead habitat in the region 8-31 deg N latitude, occupying warmer water with SSTs of 23- 28 deg C. They have a deeper dive pattern than loggerheads, spending only 20% of their time at the surface and 60% shallower than 40 m. However, the three olive ridleys identified from genetics to be of western Pacific origin spent some time associated with major ocean currents, specifically the southern edge of the KEC, the North Equatorial Current (NEC), and the Equatorial Counter Current (ECC). These habitats were not used by any olive ridleys of eastern Pacific origin suggesting that olive ridleys from different populations may occupy different oceanic habitats.

To determine movements of loggerheads throughout the Pacific ocean and to define their oceanic habitat.

N/A

Overview

Attributes described below represent those in the original dataset provided by the provider.
Only minimum required attributes are visible and downlodable online. Other attributes may be obtained upon provider's permission unless otherwise noteded below.

Attributes in dataset provided

Attribute (table column)	Description
dataset
lineno
lon	Longitude of position
lat	Latitude of position
date	Date of position
time	Time of position
lc_code
series
species	Species observed
sp_tsn	Species ITIS TSN
count	Observed count
excluded
oid	Unique ID number (generated by SEAMAP)