Reintroduction of Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) sea turtle to Padre Island National Seashore, Texas and its connection to head-starting
Shaver DJ and Caillouet, Jr. CW. 2015. Reintroduction of Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) sea turtle to Padre Island National Seashore, Texas and its connection to head-starting. Herpetological Conservation and Biology. 10(Symposium):378-435
Kemp’s Ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) is the most endangered of the sea turtles. Most nesting is on the Gulf of Mexico coastline from Texas, USA, through Veracruz, Mexico, with greatest numbers near Playa de Rancho Nuevo (RN), Tamaulipas, Mexico. The Mexican government began protecting nesters, eggs, and hatchlings at RN in 1966, but annual numbers of nests continued to decline. In January 1978, the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), and the Instituto Nacional de Pesca (INP) of Mexico implemented a bi-national Kemp’s Ridley restoration and enhancement program (KRREP) for the NPS Padre Island National Seashore (PAIS) near Corpus Christi, Texas, and RN. Its planned goals were to reintroduce Kemp’s Ridley to PAIS, which included head-starting, and to enhance protection of Kemp’s Ridley nesters, eggs, and hatchlings at RN. This paper summarizes collecting, transporting, and incubating eggs, attempted imprinting of eggs and hatchlings, transporting hatchlings, tracking nesters, and documenting nestings in the wild. Through 2014, 20 Padre Island imprinted head-started turtles (n = 69 nests) and 39 RN imprinted head-started turtles (n = 64 nests) were recorded nesting in Texas (n = 125 nests) and near RN (n = 8 nests).
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Shaver, Donna; Caillouet, Jr., Charles
- Units
- PAIS
- Keywords
- conservation, head-start, Lepidochelys kempii, nesting, satellite tracking