Assessing Risk and Conducting Public Outreach to Reduce Vessel Strikes on Sea Turtles along Florida’s Gulf Coast
Implementing Organization
State of Florida
Overview
DWH Project Funding
$1,155,000
Known Leveraged Funding
$0
Funding Organization
Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees (NRDA)
Funding Program
Natural Resource Damage Assessment NRDA
Details
Project Category
Environmental
Project Actions
Species Restoration
Targeted Resources
Sea Turtles
Project Description
The project will reduce the mortality of multiple sea turtle species (loggerhead, Kemp’s ridley, green, hawksbill, and leatherback) from injuries due to strikes by motorized watercraft. This multi-stage project will obtain information on the distribution of sea turtles and vessels in areas previously identified as hotspots of vessel strike mortality of sea turtles and assess the willingness of local communities to change their behavior to reduce the risk of watercraft-related mortality of sea turtles. The project will build on work completed through grants from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's (NFWF) Sea Turtles Program (Mitigating the exposure of sea turtles to vessel strikes in Florida) and from the Florida Sea Turtle License Plate program (Understanding the exposure of sea turtles to vessels: determining the potential impacts of vessel strikes in south Florida). Specifically, the project will • Compile data on sea turtles by collating existing and/or obtaining new information, as needed, on the habitat use, behavior, and temporal distribution of sea turtles at selected passes in the Gulf where injury by motorized watercraft is high; • Quantify vessel use and activity at the same passes; • Compile data on vessel strikes by collating existing and/or obtaining new information, as needed, to determine the overlap between sea turtles and vessels at the selected passes and identify areas with low, medium, and high risk of a vessel strike; • Obtain information on factors that may influence the risk of vessel strikes for sea turtles; • Conduct surveys of boaters to assess the acceptability and perception of boaters to identified ...click on "More Info" link below
Contact
Gareth Leonard(850) 617-9452
gareth.leonard@myfwc.com
Project Website
None
For official trustee information regarding the Deepwater Horizon NRDA, including information regarding the NRDA process and the status of projects, see https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/