High-use areas, seasonal movements and dive patterns of juvenile loggerhead sea turtles in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean

Characterizing the behaviors of sea turtles and identifying high-use areas as they vary in time and space is important for conservation planning, particularly when turtles overlap with fisheries that may unintentionally harm them. Between July 2006 and March 2010, 27 satel- lite transmitters were deployed at sea on juvenile loggerheads Caretta caretta captured as bycatch in the Uruguayan and Brazilian pelagic longline fisheries operating in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Tracking duration ranged from 3 to 639 d (mean ± SD: 259 ± 159 d; n = 27), during which turtles moved between latitudes of 25 to 45° S and longitudes 35 to 54° W. High-use areas for the tracked turtles were over the continental shelf and slope within the Uruguayan, Argentin- ian, and Brazilian exclusive economic zones and in adjacent international waters. Diving informa- tion was available for 5 turtles. The maximum dive depth recorded varied between 100 and 300 m. Two turtles demonstrated potential bottom-feeding behaviors by diving to depths that corre- sponded closely with the depth of the seafloor (