Relationship Between Sea Turtle Stranding Rates and Shrimp Fishing Intensities in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico: 1986 1989 versus 1990 1993

The correlation between the monthly stranding rates of all sea turtles along a 100-km stretch of shoreline in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico and the monthly shrimping intensities was examined for the periods 1990 93 and 1986 89. It was expected that fewer turtles would be caught in the shrimping nets after the implementation of regulations requiring the use of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in 1990. Strong positive correlations were found between the log-transformed stranding rates and fishing intensities for shirmping activities within the 20-fathom contour. TED regulations did not reduce the statistical relationship between sea turtle stranding rates and the srhimping intensities.