Analysis of bycatch and strandings of sea turtle Caretta caretta in the Ionian Sea: understand how 1 the area is used by the species to improve conservation policies

Current Italian knowledge about Sea Turtle, is due to the work of the numerous Sea Turtle Rescue Centers (STRC). The network of the WWF Centers, located throughout the Italian coasts, promotes the conservation and protection of sea turtles, especially the Caretta caretta species, the most common in the Mediterranean Sea. The WWF Italian STRC located in Policoro (MT), coordinating the Marine Turtles Project of the Gulf of Taranto area (from Punta Prosciutto - TA, to Punta Fiume Nicà - CS), by the collaboration between MATTM - WWF Italia - Department of Veterinary Medicine University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Department of Ecology University of Calabria, Department of Ecology "Charles Darwin" La Sapienza University of Rome. It's very complicated to understand how sea turtle respond to human impacts and to plan suitable conservation strategies because population dynamics of these threatened species is poorly known. The present study shows the characteristics of 456 specimens of C. caretta recovered in the Jonian Sea by STRC WWF Policoro. These were analyzed, evaluating the age classes, the sex ratio, the geolocation of the findings (where possible) to understand the probable dynamics present in the study area. A number of 427 specimens recovered after stranding and / or incidental capture were geolocated and mapped and all the specimens were grouped in different age classes based on the length of the carapace (CCL); adults' sex has been determined, wherever possible. The objective of the present study is to understand how the area of the Northern Jonian Sea is exploited by the C. caretta specimens in order to implement the knowledge on this species in an area not yet studied and to improve conservation strategies. Keywords. Loggherhead sea turtle, WWF Sea Turtle Rescue Center, Jonic Sea, Age classes, sex ratio, human impacts.