Preliminary estimates of survivorship for juvenile loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the wild

Knowledge of survivorship in the wild is crucial to the conservation of any marine turtle species. Because adult females are easily tagged when they come ashore to nest, records of individuals can be followed to assess survivorship of those returning in subsequent years. Thus, long-term tagging studies on nesting beaches have provided estimates of annual survivorship for adult female green turtles. Chelonia mydas (Bjorndal, 1980), Kemp\u27s ridleys, Lepidochelys kempi (Márquez et al., 1982a), olive ridleys, L. olivacea (Márquez et al., 1982b), and loggerheads, Caretta caretta (Frazer, 1983)