The Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network (STSSN) was formally established in 1980 to collect information on and document strandings of marine turtles along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts. The network encompasses the coastal areas of the eighteen state region from Maine through Texas, and includes portions of the U.S. Caribbean. Data are compiled through the efforts of network participants who document marine turtle strandings in their respective areas and contribute those data to the centralized STSSN database.

These reports summarize marine turtle strandings documented through the efforts of the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network (STSSN). These numbers are considered minimum stranding figures, as they are reported strandings only, not all stranding events. Effort expended in the collection of stranding data varied both geographically and temporally. Coverage ranges from systematic weekly (or more frequent) sampling to no sampling at all in some areas. All six species known to inhabit the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Atlantic are included, these include: loggerheads (Caretta caretta), greens (Chelonia mydas), Kemp's ridleys (Lepidochelys kempii), hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata), leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea) and olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea).

True strandings are defined as turtles which wash ashore dead or alive, or are found floating dead or alive (generally in a weakened condition). Other report types, including incidentally captured turtles, posthatchlings and live sighting reports received through the network were archived, but are not included in this report as these records are not considered to be true strandings.

Using the online weekly reports, one can obtain basic summarized stranding information for the years 1998 to present.

I n order to run an online report, you must check the box to accept the Data Access Policy: