©2026 Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office.Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) density was estimated by performing aerial surveys with a DJI Phantom 3 Professional unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). UAV systems have been found to provide an effective method for monitoring abundance when conducting daytime surveys of large marine organisms in coastal waters. Aerial surveys are an effective survey method for estimating sea turtle abundance because the method allows coverage of their extensive range. Because primary C. mydas foraging times are during...
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Data were collected on day-trips aboard a 21-foot powerboat in St. Joseph Bay, Florida during 5 survey events in 2016 (June 27-28; July 8-9; July 11-14; July 22-23; July 25-28), 1 survey event in 2017 (May 8-9), and two survey events in 2019 (August 2-3; September 9-10).
Methods are described in detail in Rodriguez et al. 2021. Criteria for sampling were that conditions had to be mostly sunny with winds no higher than 15 miles per hour (mph). A DJI Phantom 3 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was remotely controlled with a handheld unit from a small boat, using a Samsung Nexus 7 tablet with the DJI Go app to maximize the display area. The parallel transects were 1 kilometer (km) and 0.5 km long, and were always flown east to west or west to east to minimize the likelihood of encountering an individual turtle more than once in a survey. The UAV flew at an altitude of approximately 15 meters in 1.5 km intervals across a 2000 hectare (ha) area in the southern portion of the bay at a speed of 5 to 10 kilometers per hour.
Rodriguez, A., Byron, D., Heck, K. (2026). Green turtle density in St. Joseph Bay, Florida, USA estimated by performing aerial surveys in 2016, 2017, and 2019. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). (Version 1) Version Date 2025-12-18 [if applicable, indicate subset used]. doi:10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.986917.1 [access date]
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