NEW PUB: Sea turtle strandings in the temperate Southwest Atlantic
For the past four years, our Latin America Program director Dr. Marcy Uhart participated in beach surveys and provided training workshops on necropsy procedures, all contributing to a recent publication on sea turtle strandings in Argentina.
This paper examines the potential relationship between turtle strandings and fisheries given the high incidence of sea turtle bycatch in the area. The stranding data did not support this association, but this is likely the result of beach surveys not being the best method to detect turtles drowned by fisheries. Why isn't this the best method? It turns out, drowned turtles likely sink and never strand, or are scavenged before getting to shore, or are carried by wind and currents further away from the shore.
Despite this bias, the research team did learn that sea turtles die in significant numbers in this area, particularly adult loggerheads and leatherbacks, thus a significant finding for sea turtle conservation.