Developing and Evaluating Methods to Determine Abundance and Trends of Northwest Atlantic Loggerhead Turtles

The National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources, convened a Workshop November 15-17, 2016 with the following objective: determine whether an in-water sampling plan for Northwest Atlantic loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in neritic foraging habitats can or cannot be practically designed and implemented to provide long-term, statistically robust population abundance estimates to assist in monitoring population trends over time. The Workshop was hosted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and was held at the United States Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, 600 4th St S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. Experts in sea turtle biology, sea turtle in-water and aerial survey monitoring techniques, and experts in assessing abundance and trends in terrestrial and non-sea turtle marine taxa participated in the Workshop.