Fine scale diel movement of the east Pacific green turtle, Chelonia mydas, in a highly urbanized foraging environment

Protection of endangered species requires an understanding of their spatial ecology in relation to human activities. Recent improvements in monitoring technologies, such as automated acoustic telemetry, have enabled the collection of these data for mobile marine organisms such as sea turtles. The east Pacific green sea turtle Chelonia mydas uses San Diego Bay, CA, a heavily developed ecosystem, as a year-round foraging ground. We used a combination of manual and automated acoustic telemetry from 2009 to 2011 to elucidate the distribution of green turtles throughout South San Diego Bay and to understand their diel behavior. Tracked turtles (n = 20) ranged in size from 54.9 to 102.5 cm straight carapace length and had fidelity to two sites: the warm-water effluent channel of a waterfront power plant and an eelgrass meadow. Turtles tracked manually during the night were more sedentary (mean swimming speed ± SE: 0.38 ± 0.03 km h− 1) and generally restricted their activity to waters near the power plant. During the day, turtles swam at higher speeds (0.67 ± 0.07 km h− 1) and were mainly found in eelgrass meadows where they are known to forage. Turtles were occasionally found near a shipping terminal, which occurred almost exclusively during the daytime. Turtles in areas of increased boat traffic are at risk of vessel strikes, and future monitoring should investigate the potential for turtle–human interactions in other heavily-used areas of San Diego Bay. Future monitoring should also characterize how turtle behavior may change following the decommissioning of the power plant, which occurred six months before the end of this study.

► Green sea turtles use San Diego Bay as a year-round foraging area.
► We used automated and manual acoustic telemetry to monitor turtle movement.
► Turtles showed fidelity to a power plant thermal outflow and to eelgrass meadows.
► Turtles rarely visited high-boat traffic areas, but did so when traffic is highest.
► Conservation of turtles in San Diego Bay requires protection of eelgrass meadows.