Population Demographics, Movement Patterns and Habitat Use of Sea Turtles on the Upper Texas Coast

Abstract

In summary, the main goal of this proposal was to deploy nine additional receivers in the Christmas and West Bay region of the GBES and this was successfully accomplished (Fig. 1; Table 1). Locations for new receivers were based on satellite data that was collected after the funding of this proposal, but also using the TPWD seagrass viewer maps, and known sea turtle capture sites. As new data became available this past year, it became clear to us that sea turtle movement studies would require its own acoustic receiver system. To this end, the 9 receivers were deployed in Christmas Bay and West Bay near the San Luis Pass and the GCSTR has purchased an additional 15 acoustic receivers to create the Sea Turtle Acoustic Receiver System (STARS; Fig. 2). While the goal of this USFWS grant has been accomplished, additional acoustic receiver deployment will continue and should be completed by the end of September 2022. The deployment of receivers was delayed due to long manufacturing delays from InnovaSea (formerly Vemco) which, in turn delayed the delivery of the receivers to the GCSTR. Additionally, TAMUG Waterfront Operations, which maintain our fleet of research vessels, also suffered major delays in repair and maintenance of our boats that we use the deploy the receivers. This delay was due to COVID-19 positive cases with this service provider. As a result our bay research vessels were not available for 3 months from late spring to early summer. Our receivers were deployed late summer, rather than earlier, as proposed. Nevertheless, the first part of STARS is in place (9 receivers) and the remaining will be deployed in the near future.