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From 2010–2014, over 800 sea turtles were incidentally captured by recreational anglers in the Mississippi

Sound, USA, mostly at coastal fishing piers. The majority of these hook and line captures were immature Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles (Lepidochelys kempii). The mean minimum straight-line carapace length of the Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles was 30.2 cm (19.2–59.4 cm). A large number of live recapture events (n= 161) were recorded, and the turtles showed a high degree of fidelity to the fishing pier of their original capture. Mean growth rate (2.74 cm/y; range, 0.13–7.3 cm/y) was lower than rates observed in other developmental habitats of Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles. It was unclear if recent environmental disturbances have forced turtles to forage at piers due to decreased populations of natural prey. However, results from hematological and plasma biochemistry analyses were comparable to values observed in other populations. Further, we successfully rehabilitated and released 96% of the turtles. Nevertheless, hook and line incidental capture by recreational anglers represents a threat to immature Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles in the Mississippi Sound, which is an important recruiting and developmental habitat for this species.