• Title/Summary/Keyword: Hawksbill sea turtle

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Observation and Record of Sea Turtles in Bycatch and Stranding from Jeju Island of Korea (우리나라 제주도에서 관찰된 바다거북의 좌초와 혼획)

  • Jung, Min-Min;Moon, Dae-Yeon;Kim, Seong-Ho;Kim, Heung-Soo;Kim, Jae-Woo
    • Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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    • v.24 no.5
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    • pp.662-669
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    • 2012
  • Bycatch and stranding of sea turtles from Jeju coastal water of Korea were monitered from 2008 to 2009. A total of 41 sea turtles, consisting of 12 greens (Chelonia mydas), 3 loggerheads (Caretta caretta), 1 hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and 25 unidentified species, were recorded and observed in those area. Reported stranding and bycatch reached to a peak in August. The largest number of bycatch occurred in the coastal waters around Aewol-eup located in northwest area of Jeju Island. Most of the bycatch were taken by set nets and gill nets, which prevailed over the fishing grounds in the coastal waters of the Jeju Island. It is suggested that an appropriate monitoring system be necessary to conserve endangered sea turtle species in Jeju of Korea.

Occurrence and diet analysis of sea turtles in Korean shore

  • Kim, Jihee;Kim, Il-Hun;Kim, Min-Seop;Lee, Hae Rim;Kim, Young Jun;Park, Sangkyu;Yang, Dongwoo
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.45 no.4
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    • pp.203-217
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    • 2021
  • Background: Sea turtles, which are globally endangered species, have been stranded and found as bycatch on the Korean shore recently. More studies on sea turtles in Korea are necessary to aid their conservation. To investigate the spatio-temporal occurrence patterns of sea turtles on the Korean shore, we recorded sampling locations and dates, identified species and sexes and measured sizes (maximum curved carapace length; CCL) of collected sea turtles from the year 2014 to 2020. For an analysis of diets through stomach contents, we identified the morphology of the remaining food and extracted DNA, followed by amplification, cloning, and sequencing. Results: A total of 62 stranded or bycaught sea turtle samples were collected from the Korean shores during the study period. There were 36 loggerhead turtles, which were the dominant species, followed by 19 green turtles, three hawksbill turtles, two olive ridley turtles, and two leatherback turtles. The highest numbers were collected in the year 2017 and during summer among the seasons. In terms of locations, most sea turtles were collected from the East Sea, especially from Pohang. Comparing the sizes of collected sea turtles according to species, the average CCL of loggerhead turtles was 79.8 cm, of green turtles was 73.5 cm, and of the relatively large leatherback turtle species was 126.2 cm. In most species, the proportion of females was higher than that of males and juveniles, and was more than 70% across all the species. Food remains were morphologically identified from 19 stomachs, mainly at class level. Seaweeds were abundant in stomachs of green turtles, and Bivalvia was the most detected food item in loggerhead turtles. Based on DNA analysis, food items from a total of 26 stomachs were identified to the species or genus level. The gulfweed, Sargassum thunbergii, and the kelp species, Saccharina japonica, were frequently detected from the stomachs of green turtles and the jellyfish, Cyanea nozakii, the swimming crab, Portunus trituberculatus, and kelps had high frequencies of occurrences in loggerhead turtles. Conclusions: Our findings support those of previous studies suggesting that sea turtles are steadily appearing in the Korean sea. In addition, we verified that fish and seaweed, which inhabit the Korean sea, are frequently detected in the stomach of sea turtles. Accordingly, there is a possibility that sea turtles use the Korean sea as feeding grounds and habitats. These results can serve as basic data for the conservation of globally endangered sea turtles.