Padre Island National Seashore             

2003 -- Sea Turtle Eggs Held at the

Padre Island National Seashore

Incubation Facility

Nest Number         Date Found         Hatchling Releases (sometime between these dates)

1 (Kemp’s)                April 9                   Released

2-5 (Kemp’s)             May 4-6                Released

6-10 (Kemp’s)          May 13-16            Released

11-13 (Kemp’s)        May 28                 Released

14 (Kemp’s)              May 31                 Released

15 (Loggerhead)     June 1                  Released

16-17 (Kemp’s)        June 9-10            Released

18-19 (Kemp's)        June 10                Released
                                    July 2                    Released

20 (Kemp's)             July 4                     August 20-23

21 (Green)                July 6                     August 25-30

22 (Loggerhead)    July 8                     (incubating on South Padre Island)

23 (Green)          July 27              September 16-21

24 (Loggerhead)  August 4        September 23-29

Read:  Help Sea Turtles with Safe Fishing Practices

The National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey conduct a cooperative program to detect, study, and protect nesting Kemp’s ridley sea turtles and sea turtle nests on North Padre Island, including Padre Island National Seashore. This program is made possible due to funding from the federal government, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and a variety of partners and donors. We patrol the beach to locate nesting turtles and nests, and conduct public education efforts to alert beach visitors to report nesting turtles that they see.

Kemp’s ridley turtles nest on the Texas coast between April and mid-July. This year, staff and volunteers conducted repeated daily patrols at Padre Island National Seashore from March 30 through July 10. These patrols were during daylight hours, from about 6:30 am until 6:00 pm, since Kemp’s ridley turtles nest mostly during the day. We also continued our public education efforts and beach visitors again found and reported about half of the nests that were recorded. When possible, we examined each nesting Kemp’s ridley found by patrollers or the public to determine whether she was from the experimental project to establish a secondary nesting colony of Kemp’s ridley turtles at Padre Island National Seashore and whether she had nested and been tagged previously.

In conjunction with a 3-year study, exploratory patrols are also being conducted to determine whether sea turtle nesting occurs outside of our typical patrol season, which due to funding constraints has been limited to the dates when it was most likely that Kemp’s ridley nests would be found. These exploratory patrols are conducted at Padre Island National Seashore each day during February, March, and mid-July through September.

Nineteen Kemp’s ridley nests were located on the Texas coast this year, including 14 at Padre Island National Seashore, two on North Padre Island north of Padre Island National Seashore, two on South Padre Island, and one on Galveston Island. To our knowledge, only two other Kemp’s ridley nests were confirmed in the U.S. outside of Texas this year, including one located at Canaveral National Seashore in Florida and one at Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina.

We attached satellite transmitters to the first four Kemp’s ridley turtles found nesting at Padre Island National Seashore this year. Information from this cooperative research project was used to predict where and when the turtles might nest again within this nesting season, to aid with nest detection efforts. Another objective of the study is to gather information on where the turtles go between and after nesting.

In addition to the Kemp’s ridley nests, two green turtle and three loggerhead nests were located on the Texas coast this year. Two of the loggerhead nests and both of the green turtle nests were discovered at Padre Island National Seashore.

Eggs from sea turtle nests found at Padre Island National Seashore and northward along the Texas coast were transported to our incubation facility for care for protected care and monitoring. The hatchlings from these eggs are being released at Padre Island National Seashore. The dates when the nests were located at the national seashore and the anticipated hatchling release dates for these nests are listed above.

Many of the hatchling releases held at Padre Island National Seashore are open to the public. Releases open to the public are held at 6:45 am, at the northern end of Padre Island National Seashore.

For more information on attending hatchling releases at Padre Island National Seashore, call the USGS Hatchling Hotline at (361) 949-7163.

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"Help Sea Turtles with Safe Fishing Practices."

Each year, several sea turtles are caught on the Texas coast accidentally during recreational fishing. Some of these captures can be avoided. Additionally, injuries to the turtles resulting from the captures can be minimized if proper steps are taken. The National Marine Fisheries Service developed and printed bumper stickers entitled "Help Sea Turtles with Safe Fishing Practices." These stickers outline some of the measures that will help avoid captures and help minimize injury to captured turtles. As Texas Coordinator for the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network, Donna Shaver-Miller was asked to distribute these stickers to various sites on the lower Texas coast. Since sea turtles are sometimes caught in the surf at Padre Island National Seashore, this is one of the locations for distributing stickers.

Information listed on the sticker:

Prevent the event: DO NOT cast your line where turtles are seen surfacing to breathe.

If you hook or entangled a turtle on your line: - GENTLY bring the turtle close to you, use dip net or firmly hold front flippers and shell to safely lift out of water.

- Cut line close to hook and remove line that has become entangled around the turtle. AVOID turtle's mouth and flipper claws; use blunt scissors/knife to cut line.

- Do not lift turtle above water by pulling line - this will result in further injury. If distance to you from boat/pier is too great or turtle is too large, cut line as short as possible to release turtle.

- Do not remove hook unless turtle is lightly hooked and it can be taken out without further injury. If uncertain, DO NOT remove hook.

- Turtles with serious cuts, ingested or deeply embedded hook need veterinary care. Keep turtle in shade.

Please remember to immediately notify us about all sea turtles found stranded and caught on hook and line. We can discuss each capture individually. Depending on location, we may be able to travel to the scene to aid with hook removal or transport of the turtle to a rehabilitation facility. Also, we need to complete a form for each turtle.

Care should be taken to make sure that the captured turtle does not get too hot or too cold while on the beach. Please keep captured turtle moist and shaded. Sea water can be poured over it while awaiting arrival of rescue personnel from the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network. Network personnel will transport the turtle on moistened foam rubber (not standing water).

  Thank you very much for your help.