1. COSA Committee Meeting
June 23, 2017
Jessica Mallindine
Marine Biologist
Marine Minerals Program - GOM

2. BOEM Information Need:
Fine-Scale Dive Profiles and Activity Patterns of Sea Turtles in the Gulf of Mexico
BOEM Information Need:
Behavior patterns of threatened and endangered sea turtles at risk of entrainment and mortality associated with offshore hopper dredging activities.
Date Information is Required:
Immediate use for real-time project management
Address information gaps as identified through National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 consultations.

3. Acknowledgements USGS NMFS Dr. Kristen Hart Dr. Margaret Lamont,
Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
NMFS

4. Background Relationship with Previous Work/Efforts:
Literature studies and consultations identify data gaps and conservation recommendations.
Biological
Behavioral
Risk Analysis

5. Background Relationship with Concurrent/Future Efforts:
Three BOEM projects currently underway.
Sea Turtle Trawling Study
Decision Support Tool to Reduce Sea Turtle Dredging Entrainment Risk
GoMMapps

6. Background
Caminada Headlands Restoration Project

7. Background Caminada Headlands Restoration Project
Utilized Hopper Dredges

8. Background NMFS BO stipulations (ie..Trawling)
Relocated >150 sea turtles in single year

9. Sea Turtle Trawling Study
Using satellite tags to collect data
Immature and mature endangered Kemp’s ridley’s and threatened loggerheads
Both sexes (data biased to nesting females)
Calculate dive profiles and activity budgets

10. Sea Turtle Trawling Study
Challenges:
Duration
Biofouling
Coarse data quality
How can DOI advance sea turtle science through improved data collection techniques?

11. Study Objectives
Use emerging satellite telemetry technologies and data retrieval techniques to provide fine-scale high-resolution data that can be translated into specific movements, such as gliding or resting.
Determine the extent of movements and seasonal site fidelity
Fine scale characterization of dive profiles
Identify and assess physical and biological features to characterize habitats
Assess the population structure and isotopic signatures
Status of abundance and distribution

12. Acceleration Data Loggers (ADL)
Other examples of uses of accelerometers. Cellphones, Airbags, Shark breeding and fishing injuries, sturgeon jumping behavior, python behavior in everglades.
Dr. Whitney

13. Methods ADL packages deployed on sea turtles
Set to record tri-axial acceleration at 30 Hz, depth at 1 Hz, and temperature at Hz. ( Fine- Scale)
ADLs will be paired with VHF transmitters and Smart Position and Temperature (SPOT) tags.
Pop-off Tags deployed
Tags affixed in a hydrodynamic, custom-made syntactic foam float and secured to a nylon mesh base.
Galvanic release will dissolve in seawater, releasing the ADL package and allowing it to float to the surface for recovery.
Released tags will be detected using a hand-held VHF receiver, and then retrieved by vessel.
Biological sampling/gastric lavage/health assessments
Innovative techniques are proposed to address the challenge of tag recovery so that data from longer-term deployments associated with this study can be obtained.

14. Data
Loggerhead ADL
Hart et al 2016
USGS/BOEM – Ongoing Study

15. Data
Loggerhead ADL
Hart et al 2016

16. Study Outcomes Determine movements and seasonal site fidelity
Fine scale characterization of dive profiles
Identify and quantify specific behaviors
(e.g. various types of swimming behavior based on their flipper-beat frequency and amplitude, stalling/gliding, rolling, resting, etc.)
Assess the population structure and isotopic signatures
Status of abundance and distribution
ADLs provide a means for assessing turtle behavior at a much finer scale than dive data alone allowing scientists to empirically measure body movements and orientation. These high-resolution data can be used to identify and quantify specific behaviors (e.g. various types of swimming behavior based on their flipper-beat frequency and amplitude, stalling/gliding, rolling, resting, etc.) using fast-Fourier transforms, wavelet-analysis, and k-means clustering techniques.
Animals.oreilly.com

17. Relationship to Strategic Science Questions
New Technology Applications
Utilizing innovative telemetry technology to better understand the behavior patterns of threatened and endangered sea turtles.
Cumulative effects within the framework of environmental assessments
Acute and chronic effects exposure to hydrocarbons and other chemicals
Effect of habitat or landscape alteration

18. Questions?