Collection of demographic data such as annual relative abundance of loggerhead sea turtles in the Azores through data collected by observers on tuna fishing vessels (POPA – Azores Fisheries Observation Program) and dedicated surveys. A recent study using 15 years of loggerhead turtle sighting data collected under the POPA program revealed that the annual relative abundance of this species in the Azores tracked annual nest abundance at source rookeries in Florida when adjusted for a 3-year lag. This discovery sheds new light on the recruitment dynamics from nesting beaches to the oceanic phase (Vandeperre et al. 2019). 

Additionally, the trend in relative abundance estimated from standardized visual transects on opportunistic platforms between 2001 and 2015 was stable over the long term.

All information is transmitted to Direção Regional dos Assuntos do Mar – DRAM, under Directiva Quadro Estratégia Marinha – DQEM.