Corpusfishing.com

[Tyler]

Yesterday, 11 Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests were found on the Texas coast including 1 on North Padre Island north of Padre Island National Seashore, 6 at Padre Island National Seashore, 3 on South Padre Island, and 1 on Boca Chica Beach.

So far this year, 12 Kemp's ridley nests have been confirmed on the Texas
coast including (north to south in state):
Bolivar Peninsula 0
Galveston Island 0
Surfside Beach 0
Bryan Beach 0
Matagorda Peninsula 0
Matagorda Island 0
Mustang Island 0
North Padre Island 7, including 6 at Padre Island National Seashore
South Padre Island 4
Boca Chica Beach 1

******************************************


Donna J. Shaver, Ph.D.

[Bwanablue]

Tyler, do you know what the totals were for last year? Just curious.
_________________
If at first you don't succeed, neither have I.

[chuck]

that would be pretty exciting to find a nest.

[ironmanstan]

I hope that is a good thing., but the zeros seem to be winning. Honestly I don't know what's good, but the more nests found would seem to be better.
_________________
I LIKE MINE FRIED.

[Tyler]

[larry meinert]

Not being the sharpest tack in the box, I have probably teed off just about everyone on this forum over the years. So for anyone left, here we go:
The turtle huggers are not happy with the stretch of beach that they have. If ever the numbers get into the thousands, you can bet that they will make a run for the rest of the island. I don’t think you got to vote for the beach that they have now. Never fear, the numbers will go up and down just like they have for the past 45 plus years as long as the Mexicans keep eating them. I have it from a reliable source that it would take 20 or 30 thousand turtles to sustain the species on Padre Island and it is the northern most end of their range. I think we are safe but the turtle bureaucrats are my biggest fear because they have their foot in the door. I’ll stand corrected if anyone shows any proof that snatching eggs off the beach, incubating, then releasing them does any good. Their shack is also ever expanding. I think that they should give all that money to the Park Rangers. You know, they could guard the turtles also. When they hatch, just help them along their way and get folks to drive around. I’m sorry to tt on your thread but all the money they throw at those turtles could be put to better things in my not so popular opinion.
There it is. Feel free to let me have it

[chuck]

but would hugging a turtle help keep our beaches from turning into a mega developed board walk type thing. Where locals can't get to a beach with out having to park and walk.

I am fairly uneducated at this but Padre Island National Seashore seems like a good thing to me.

[crhfish]

Turtle Bureaucrats would make a good name for a punk band. I'm not much of a tree hugger, but how can you not like turtles.

[Bluffer]

Good points there Larry. They are far from being endangerd,
_________________
-STAY THIRSTY MY FRIENDS!-

[fishmicki]

I can see some "unintended consequences" happening with this as well.

remember when grocery stores switched from paper bags to plastic bags?....now all I hear about is how these plastic bags can't be recycled and to either use paper as it is recyclable, or to bring/buy canvas bags. A comic strip said it best yesterday......being "green" took off once someone realized they could profit from it.
_________________
No matter where you go, there you are....

[Ray]

I thought Ridleys are endangered.
_________________
Ray

[kingtender]

There are turtles all over the laguna. Large and small

[Tyler]

It IS endangered though I understand the concerns about shutting down the beach because of them. That's why I constantly state in my Surf Articles about not speeding on the beach etc. as it won't take much to get that privilege taken away and someone running over a Kemp's or a person for that matter might cause them to rethink their current policy allowing visitors to drive on the beach.

Here is more on the Kemp's

Kemp's Ridley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Kemp's Ridley


Researchers collecting Kemp's Ridley eggs
Conservation status

Critically endangered (IUCN)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Testudines

Family: Cheloniidae

Genus: Lepidochelys

Species: L. kempii


Binomial name
Lepidochelys kempii
(Garman, 1880)

Lepidochelys kempii distribution.Also see: Olive Ridley turtle.
Kemp's Ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) is a critically endangered species of sea turtle.

Contents [hide]
1 Anatomy
2 Distribution
3 Ecology and life history
3.1 Habitat
3.2 Trophic ecology
3.3 Life history
4 Etymology and taxonomic history
5 Conservation
6 See also
7 References
8 Bibliography
9 External links



[edit] Anatomy
They are the smallest sea turtle species, growing less than a meter long and averaging only 45 kilograms (100 lb) as an adult.

On its head it has a "beak" of sorts used to grab and break up crabs on which it prefers to feed.


[edit] Distribution
Their range includes the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Almost all females return each year to a single beach — Rancho Nuevo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas — to lay their eggs.


[edit] Ecology and life history

[edit] Habitat
Kemp's Ridley inhabits New Jersey, the Gulf of Mexico, and Florida they prefer the Louisiana waters.


[edit] Trophic ecology

[edit] Life history
Kemp's Ridley sea turtle changes color with its development. As hatchlings they are almost entirely a dark grey-black but when they become adults (the age of adulthood is debated, some say they reach maturity at the age of 7-15 but others claim that sexual maturity doesn't occur until the age of 35) they have a yellow-green or white plastron and a grey-green carapace.

The estimated number of nesting females in the year of 1947 was 89,000 but it dove to an estimated 1,000 by the mid 1980s.

The nesting season for these turtles is between April to August, though some nest as late as July or August. They nest mostly in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, but they sometimes on Padre Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The adult sea turtles mate offshore and when a powerful wind blows from the north the females land in groups on the beach (they prefer areas with dunes followed by swamps). They are the only species of sea turtle known to lay their eggs during the day.

Females nest three times during a season with roughly 10 to 28 years between nestings. Incubation can take anywhere from 45 to 70 days. There are, on average, around 110 eggs per nesting.

The sex of hatchlings is decided by the temperature in the area during incubation. If the temperature is below 29.5 degrees Celsius the offspring will be mainly male.

==


[edit] Etymology and taxonomic history
These turtles are called Kemp's Ridley because Richard Kemp (of Key West) was the first to send in a specimen of the species to Samuel Garman at Harvard.

Kemp's Ridley sea turtles are nicknamed the "Heartbreak Turtle" because when they died on deck of boats they would lie on their backs so fishermen would say that it died of a broken heart.


[edit] Conservation
In the past their numbers were severely depleted through hunting, but today major threats include loss of habitat, pollution, and entanglement in fishing (shrimping) nets.

It was listed as endangered for the first time in the United States on December 2, 1970 and has received protection in Mexico since the 1960s. One of the suggested mechanisms to assist the population in its regrowth is the Turtle Excluder Device (TED). Due to the fact that the biggest hit to the population of Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles is shrimp trawls, this device is attached to the shrimp trawl. It is a grid of bars with an opening at the top or bottom. It is fitted into the neck of the shrimp trawl in a manner as to allow small animals to slip through the bars and be caught in the bag while larger animals such as sea turtles may strike the bars and be ejected through the opening thus avoiding possible drowning.

On September, 2007, Corpus Christi, Texas wildlife officials found a record of 128 Kemp's Ridley sea turtle nests on Texas beaches, including 81 on North Padre Island (Padre Island National Seashore) and 4 on Mustang Island. Wildlife officials released 10,594 Kemp's Ridley hatchlings along the Texas coast this year. The turtles are popular in Mexico as boot material and food.[1]

[Ray]

[chuck]

I foul hooked a sea turtle once and it was over 2' across.
It took me and two other dudes to un-hook it.
It was very mad to say the least and if it's beak got a hold of you, ouch! you would be missing a huge amount of flesh

I don't think I would hug one, it might be like hugging a shark, or an aligator.