Published By US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior
Issued about 9 years ago
Summary
Description
This paper presents results from the 8th Annual Study using Army Corp of Engineers funds of nesting by the Atlantic Loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta along the Atlantic Ocean coastline in Virginia Beach, Virginia during 2000. All surveys were implemented by volunteers and staff of the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia Beach, Virginia, throughout the sea turtle nesting season. Two seasonal, fulltime biological technicians were hired to search twentyfive miles of beach along the northern periphery of the nesting range of the Atlantic Loggerhead. Refuge biologists investigated two Loggerhead sea turtle crawls during the 2000 nesting season. The successful nesting attempt for the 2000 nesting season occurred July 11, 2000 on Back Bay NWR, 2.6 miles south of the Refuge beach ramp. It produced a nest of 112 eggs. Refuge employees captured the nesting Loggerhead female and Virginia Institute of Marine Science personnel applied flipper tags and a satellite transmitter. A second crawl, located at the southern end of False Cape State Park, provided no evidence of a nest. An employee at False Cape State Park sighted a third sea turtle crawl, however, tides obliterated it before the sighting could be confirmed. No nests or crawls were located along the oceanfronts of Sandbridge, the Virginia Beach Resort Area, or Fort Story. Night patrols were conducted from June 5June 29 and July 26August 4 by volunteers and Refuge employees, however no turtle was sighted or captured during this period. This report also includes an analysis of Loggerhead sea turtle nests and stranding data from 1980 to 2000.