Long term stranding record of sea turtle
Long term stranding record data were obtained for
two sea turtle species (Chelonia mydas
and Caretta caretta) on
Samandağ
Beach in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkey. A total of 302 stranded
dead turtles were found during 2002-2017. The most important result of
this study is that fishing activities and marine pollution are the main
cause of stranding. Plastic materials are particularly risky for the
oceanic and sub-adult stages. Also, adult stages in both sea turtles
have less carapacial scute deviation than their sub-adult and oceanic
stage. The another important result is that although Samandağ Beach is
an important nesting beach for green turtles, fewer adult green
turtles were found stranded, but many stranded sub-adult and adult
stages of loggerhead turtles were found. In addition, the body size of
the stranded green turtle (i.e. curved carapace length) tended to
increase over the years, and it is likely that this increase may
adversely affect reproduction output in the future.

Read the full article, published by Zoological
Studies, here
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Media contact: Noah Last: lastn@gate.sinica.edu.tw