"It is a testament to the species tenacity and longevity," said Nancy Kaufman, Regional Director of the Fish and Wildlife Services Southwest Region. "And it is also a testament to the cooperative willpower of two nations, with support from nearby residents and a variety of other partners."
"We applaud the efforts of all partners working to restore the Kemps ridley," said Dr. Rene Marquez, National Sea Turtle Coordinator for the Instituto Nacional de la Pesca in Mexico. "Protection afforded the species by our governments, combined with increased research, monitoring and educational efforts, is starting to show significant results. We are finally starting to see the fruits of our labor."
In the Spring of 1947, 40,000 female Kemps ridley sea turtles came ashore to nest during the largest documented "arribada" by Kemps ridleys. With anywhere between 80 and 140 eggs laid in each nest, there was no indication that the species was in danger of becoming extinct.
Unfortunately, by the late 1970s, a single arribada rarely reached 200 females. The species was almost completely decimated because of a combination of threats: human encroachment, including poaching for eggs and meat; disease epidemics; predation of eggs by crabs, birds, and fish; and unmanaged fishing practices. The turtle was listed as endangered throughout its range in 1970.
"Thanks to longstanding partnerships between U.S. and Mexican wildlife agencies and more recent involvement of conservation and industry groups, were beginning to see real progress in restoring these ancient marine creatures to their rightful place in the Gulf of Mexico,said Kaufman. The Service has led turtle recovery efforts for the United States since 1978, funding research, monitoring and hatchling release programs.
Also, during the past five years, the National Fisheries Institute, representing the shrimping and commercial fishing industry in Mexico and the United States, constructed new monitoring camps for the turtle. The National Marine Fisheries Service has also committed funding since 1996 to support enhanced monitoring of nesting activities in Mexico, improvements to a research compound at Rancho Nuevo, and expanded educational programs; and has also participated in recovery efforts with the Instituto Nacional de la Pesca, the State of Tamaulipas and a variety of other partners. This shared commitment has resulted in new hope for this tenacious survivor.
Though the Kemps ridley sea turtle cannot be considered safe, due to binational recovery efforts, the species may be released from the snares of possible extinction. Continued recovery efforts for the Kemps ridley will include protection of known nesting beaches and adjacent waters, plus further reductions in mortality from incidental catch of turtles in commercial shrimping operations in the U.S. and Mexico. Biologists have a goal of ensuring a nesting population of 10,000 turtles per year before considering upgrading the status of the species to "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. Marquez is cautiously optimistic that numbers of nesting turtles will continue to increase: "We still have a long way to go, but the trend suggests that recovery is beginning to succeed as numbers of nesting females seem to be growing exponentially each season."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 520 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
