It's that time of year again—Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Nesting Season. It starts in April and goes through July. Local sealife experts warn neighbors to stay vigilant of this endangered species laying its eggs on the beach for the next few months.
“Protect her from any vehicles that are coming. Oftentimes, they’ll nest in the roadway," Andrew Orgill, the Amos Rehabilitation Keep Staff Supervisor, said. “They’ll cross the roadway and nest right at the base of the dunes. So, just be super careful when driving on the beach. The slower, the better.”
Driving on the beach is pretty standard here on the beaches of the Coastal Bend. However, beach driving is just one of the things beachgoers need to be more aware of during Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Nesting Season. Many people travel from near and far to admire these endangered turtles.
“I have heard about the Kemp’s ridley turtles where the mom turtle comes and lays her eggs up by the dunes and about six to eight weeks later, the babies are born," Lisa Hartman, a visitor from Colorado, said.
That’s right—The mother Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle makes its way from the waters of the Gulf up to the dunes to lay her eggs. Neighborhood news Reporter Erin Holly headed over to the Amos Rehabilitation Keep in Port Aransas to learn more about the nesting process.
“A lot of times people will come up to us when we’re excavating the eggs and they ask, what happens to them? Why are we doing this? And there’s a lot of threats that they face on the beach. There’s ghost crabs, there’s birds, there’s coyotes, there’s human interaction. There’s high tides that can flood the nests out," Orgill said.
Organizations like the Amos Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute take the Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle eggs from the nests to protect them until they are ready to hatch. The retrieved eggs stay at the incubation facility at Padre Island National Seashore and then are released back onto the beach after they hatch. They typically take about 60 days or abou eight weeks to hatch.
“Last year was a record nesting year, so we seem to see more and more turtles on Mustang Island every year," Orgill said.
Last year, the ARK recorded 25 Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle nesting attempts on their coverage area of Mustang Island. Last year during this time, Neighborhood News Reporter Erin Holly caught up with Dr. Donna Shaver of the Padre Island National Seashore and she said they were having a good nesting year on Padre Island in 2024 as well.
“Well, as human beings, we are the stewards of wildlife, right. So, it’s really important that we watch out for endangered species because if we don’t, they could become extinct altogether," Hartman said.
If you see a nesting momma Kemp’s Ridley, or turtle tracks in the sand, do not touch, and call 1-866-TURTLE-5 as soon as possible to report it to the experts.
For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
Catch all the KRIS 6 News stories and more on our YouTube page. Subscribe today!
