IMIS

Immature individuals were tracked primarily during warmer months and exhibited preferences for tidal passes, bays, coastal lakes, and nearshore waters, although movement patterns varied among years. Females tracked during their inter-­nesting intervals remained in the vicinity of the upper Texas coast and, upon entering the post-nesting stage, moved eastward along the 20 m isobath to foraging areas offshore of central Louisiana. Satellite telemetry indicated that inshore and continental shelf waters of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico serve as developmental, migratory, inter-nesting, and post-nesting habitat for the Kemp’s ridley. Projected population growth will likely lead to increased use of the northwestern Gulf by the species and more frequent encounters with human activities. The extent of such anthropogenic interactions and need for mitigation measures should be examined and considered by natural resource managers to facilitate continued recovery of this and other sea turtle species in the Gulf of Mexico. Likewise, research efforts should be continued to better understand seasonal in-water distributions, abundances, population dynamics, and mortality risks to all life history stages.

Purpose: The following research objectives were identified: (1) to characterize movements of benthic-stage im mature and adult female Kemp’s ridleys in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico; and (2) to identify Kemp's ridley migration patterns and foraging grounds in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.

This dataset is a summarized representation of the telemetry locations aggregated per species per 1-degree cell.