Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 149, May 2017, pp. 1-30. | Page 14

14 In the Caribbean, major nesting sites have been identified on Aves Island, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Costa Rica. In recent years there are signs of increased nesting in the Cayman Islands. One of the region's most important nesting grounds is in Tortuguero in Costa Rica. In fact, the majority of the Caribbean region's Chelonia mydas population hails from a few beaches in Tortuguero. Within United States waters, minor nesting sites have been noted in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and all along the east coast of Florida. Hutchinson Island in particular is a major nesting area in Florida waters. Notable locations in South America include secluded beaches in Suriname and French Guiana. In the Southern Atlantic Ocean, the most notable nesting grounds for Chelonia mydas are found on the island of Ascension, which hosts 6,000–13,000 turtle nests (Wikipedia). In contrast with the sporadic distribution of nesting sites, feeding grounds are much more widely distributed throughout the region. Important feeding grounds in Florida include Indian River Lagoon, the Florida Keys, Florida Bay, Homosassa, Crystal River, and Cedar Key (Wikipedia). Green Sea Turtle Distribution; the red circles are known major nesting sites. Yellow circles represent minor nesting locations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_sea_turtle#/media/File:Green_turtle_nesting_sites.svg Indo-Pacific Subpopulation In the Pacific, its range reaches as far north as the southern coast of Alaska and as far south as Chile in the east. The turtle's distribution in the western Pacific reaches north to Japan and southern parts of Russia's Pacific coast, and as far south as the northern tip of New Zealand and a few islands south of Tasmania. The turtles can be found throughout the Indian Ocean (Wikipedia). Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 149 – May 2017