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RECOVERY PLAN INTRODUCTION

History

The Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) (ESA), establishes policies and procedures for identifying, listing, and protecting species of wildlife that are endangered or threatened with extinction. The purposes of the ESA are “to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, [and] to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species...” The ESA defines an “endangered species” as “any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.” A “threatened species” is defined as “any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.” The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) was listed as threatened throughout its range on July 28, 1978, and has received Federal protection under the ESA since that time.

The Secretaries of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce are responsible for administering the ESA’s provisions as they apply to the loggerhead sea turtle. Day-to-day management authority for endangered and threatened species under the Departments’ jurisdictions has been delegated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), respectively. FWS and NMFS share Federal jurisdiction for sea turtles, with FWS having lead responsibility on the nesting beaches and NMFS in the marine environment.

To help identify and guide species recovery needs, section 4(f) of the ESA directs the Secretary to develop and implement recovery plans for listed species or populations. Such plans are to include: (1) a description of site-specific management actions necessary to conserve the species or populations; (2) objective, measurable criteria which, when met, will allow the species or populations to be removed from the endangered and threatened species list; and (3) estimates of the time and funding required to achieve the plan’s goals and intermediate steps. Section 4 of the ESA and regulations (50 CFR Part 424) promulgated to implement its listing provisions, also set forth the procedures for reclassifying and delisting species on the Federal lists. A species can be delisted if the Secretary of the Interior and/or the Secretary of Commerce determines that the species no longer meets the endangered or threatened status based upon these five factors listed in Section 4(a)(1) of the ESA:

      (1) the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range;

      (2) over utilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes;

      (3) disease or predation;

      (4) the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; and

      (5) other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence.

Further, a species may be delisted, according to 50 CFR Part 424.11(d), if the best scientific and commercial data available substantiate that the species or population is neither endangered nor threatened for one of the following reasons: (1) extinction, (2) recovery, or (3) original data for classification of the species were in error.

NMFS approved the initial recovery plan for the loggerhead sea turtle on September 19, 1984. This initial plan was a multi-species plan for all six species of sea turtles occurring in the U.S. On December 26, 1991, NMFS and FWS approved a separate recovery plan for the U.S. population of the loggerhead sea turtle. In 2001, NMFS and FWS initiated the process to revise the plan for a second time. An Atlantic Loggerhead Sea Turtle Recovery Team, consisting of species experts, was established to draft this revision.

Since approval of the first revised plan in 1991, significant research has been accomplished and important conservation and recovery activities have been undertaken. As a result, we have a greater knowledge of the species and its status. This second revision of the recovery plan for the Atlantic loggerhead addresses current threats and needs, highlights conservation accomplishments that have been undertaken since the species was listed, and specifically addresses the planning requirements of the ESA.

Overview

The loggerhead sea turtle occurs throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. However, the majority of loggerhead nesting is at the western rims of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. The most recent reviews show that only two loggerhead nesting beaches have greater than 10,000 females nesting per year: South Florida (U.S.) and Masirah (Oman). Those beaches with 1,000 to 9,999 females nesting each year are North Florida through North Carolina (U.S.), Cape Verde Islands (Spain, eastern Atlantic off Africa), and Western Australia (Australia). Smaller nesting aggregations with 100 to 999 nesting females annually occur in Northwest Florida (U.S.), Cay Sal Bank (Bahamas), Quintana Roo and Yucatán (Mexico), Sergipe and Northern Bahia (Brazil), Southern Bahia to Rio de Janerio (Brazil), Tongaland (South Africa), Mozambique, Arabian Sea Coast (Oman), Halaniyat Islands (Oman), Cyprus, Peloponnesus (Greece), Island of Zakynthos (Greece), Turkey, and Queensland (Australia).

Although the major nesting concentrations in the United States are found in South Florida, loggerheads nest from Texas to Virginia. Total estimated nesting in the U.S. is approximately 68,000 to 90,000 nests/year. About 80 percent of loggerhead nesting in the southeastern U.S. occurs in six Florida counties (Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, and Broward Counties). Adult loggerheads are known to make considerable migrations between foraging areas and nesting beaches. During non-nesting years, adult females from U.S. beaches are distributed in waters off the eastern U.S. and throughout the Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and Yucatán.

Genetic research involving analysis of mitochondrial DNA has identified four different loggerhead nesting subpopulations in the southeastern United States: (1) the Northern Subpopulation occurring from North Carolina through Northeast Florida; (2) South Florida Subpopulation occurring from just north of Cape Canaveral on Florida’s east coast and extending up to around Sarasota on Florida’s west coast; (3) Dry Tortugas, Florida, Subpopulation, and (4) Northwest Florida Subpopulation occurring on Florida’s Panhandle beaches. These data indicate that gene flow between these four regions is very low. If nesting females are extirpated from one of these regions, regional dispersal will not be sufficient to replenish the depleted nesting subpopulation.

The South Florida Subpopulation has shown significant increases over the last 25 years, indicating that the population has progressed toward recovery. However, an analysis of nesting data for the years 1989-2002, a period encompassing index surveys that are more consistent than surveys in previous years, has shown no detectable trend. Past increases in South Florida loggerhead nesting are likely to have slowed. No long-term trends are available for the Northern Subpopulation, although researchers have documented substantial declines in nesting on some beaches since the early 1970s. From 1989-1998, no nesting trends were detectable for North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia. However, nests in Northeast Florida may be increasing, although data were too variable to detect a significant trend. Nesting surveys in the Dry Tortugas and Northwest Florida have been too irregular to date to allow for a meaningful trend analysis.

The major threats faced by loggerheads include incidental take from commercial fishing operations and channel dredging; loss or degradation of nesting habitat from coastal development and beach armoring; disorientation of hatchlings by beachfront lighting; excessive nest predation by native and non-native predators; degradation of foraging habitat; marine pollution and debris; watercraft strikes; and disease.

The highly migratory behavior of loggerheads makes them shared resources among many nations. Therefore, conservation efforts for loggerhead populations in one country may be jeopardized by activities in another. Protecting loggerhead sea turtles on U.S. nesting beaches and in U.S. waters alone, therefore, is not sufficient to ensure the continued existence of the species. However, sea turtle protection programs in many countries are not well organized or supported and, in this context, protection of the U.S. loggerhead population takes on international significance. Although this revised recovery plan focuses on activities to recover the loggerhead in the U.S., it also recognizes and encourages cooperative efforts with other nations to ensure the survival of the species.