Mysterious Kemp’s Ridleys

By Jo Ellen Basile

Nine years ago, on May 14, 1996, history was made when the first documented Kemp’s ridley sea turtle nest on the Atlantic Coast of Florida was laid in Ponce Inlet. At that time, the area was at the center of controversy over a lawsuit to force Volusia County to curtail beach driving to protect turtles. This section was later closed to vehicles in exchange for a federal incidental take permit to allow beach driving to continue in other sections of the county. The clever ridley laid a second nest two weeks later in New Smyrna Beach, in front of the home of sea turtle activist Shirley Reynolds, who filed the lawsuit against beach driving. Some have called this occurrence “Divine Intervention;” however, the mystery has continued.

On June 10, 2005, Volusia County once again hosted the world’s most endangered sea turtle when a Kemp’s ridley nested in Ponce Inlet, only a few blocks south of the 1996 location. As usual, she crawled onshore in the daytime on an overcast, blustery day, providing another exhilarating moment for sea turtle enthusiasts and beachgoers.

The first Kemp’s ridley nest in Florida was found on the west coast in Pinellas County in 1989. Several nests per year are now documented in Florida. Increased Kemp’s ridley nesting began in Texas in 1996, concentrating near Padre Island National Seashore, with a record of 42 nests in 2004. Only four other Kemp’s ridley nests were confirmed in the United States in 2004, all in the panhandle of Florida.  A few of the nests have been found in recent years in North and South Carolina. 

The first record of Kemp’s ridley nesting was a 1947 video showing thousands of turtles nesting at once in the daytime in what is called an “arribada” in Rancho Nuevo, Mexico. The nesting population at that time was estimated at more than 40,000 turtles, but declined to less than 1,000 in the 1970’s. Thanks to combined efforts of the United States and Mexican governments, those numbers have steadily increased. In 2003, 8,323 nests were documented in Mexico.

The increased nesting activity in Texas is partly attributed to attempts to re-establish a nesting colony on Padre Island with a “head-starting” program conducted from 1978 to 1988. Eggs were collected from Mexican nests and incubated in a laboratory, hatchlings were allowed to crawl to the water on Padre Island beaches, then collected and raised in a laboratory for a year before being released again. Scientists hoped the turtles would imprint on this beach and return in 7-15 years to nest.

Of the 22,507 eggs collected, 13,454 turtles were eventually released. Starting in 1982, the head-started turtles were given a “living tag” by implanting a small plug of their lighter bottom shell into their darker upper shell. In 1996, two nesting ridleys in Padre Island were confirmed to be head-started turtles. A total of 33 of the 163 nests since 1996 have been confirmed as head-started turtles.

Because of the nesting numbers, Padre Island National Seashore is the most important nesting beach for the species in the United States. Satellite transmitters are attached to the first few turtles found nesting at the Seashore each year, and eggs from many of the nests are collected for protected incubation.

For the first time in 2004, two arribadas were documented in Texas, with six nests found on May 22 and five found on June 5.  On days when one nest is found, the chance of additional nests increases, so the park flies Kemp’s ridley flags at its visitor centers to alert the public and increase chances of finding other nests.

Here in Ponce Inlet, the recent nest was laid too low to survive tides and was relocated to an area near the homes of several volunteers. We check the nest each day and will watch diligently when the nest is due to hatch. Assuming all goes well, the hatching will be an unforgettable moment in the lives of our volunteers. Perhaps we should fly the ridley flag.

While the turtle was ashore, we were able to obtain carapace measurements.

Straight measurements taken with calipers:

Notch to notch: 62.4 cm

Notch to tip: 63.4 cm

Width: 61.2 cm

Curved measurements taken with a measuring tape:

Notch to notch: 66.0 cm

Notch to tip: 66.5 cm

Width: 69.5 cm