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Early this week a weather system hovered off the southern Gulf Coast, threatening the Rio Grande Valley with the possible formation of this hurricane season’s first major storm.
Fortunately, this region received little more than welcome rain and unwelcome mosquitoes, and the system moved further up the coast before forming into Tropical Storm Arthur.
The possible storm didn’t just threaten human Valley residents. Flooding and other storm damage can affect sensitive ecosystems that are home to the rich and diverse wildlife that include unique and even threatened or endangered species of animals.
They include the Kemp’s ridley turtle, the world’s most endangered sea turtle, which nests along our coast. It is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
This is a sensitive time for the ridleys, whose nests currently are gestating all along the gulf coast.
Fortunately, the turtles have a dedicated team of advocates at Sea Turtle Inc. on South Padre Island. The group has been monitoring more than 200 nests in recent weeks and already have helped more than 1,100 hatchlings crawl out to sea. Around 18,000 more eggs are expected to hatch between now and the first week of August.
People interested in watching one of the releases can visit seaturtleinc.org or the organization’s Facebook page to see a list of expected hatch dates.
This is just one of several activities through which the group hopes to raise public awareness, and support, that can help continue to bring the turtles back from the brink of extinction, which was a real threat as recently as the 1980s. Others include public access to its facilities including what the group boasts is the world’s largest sea turtle hospital, which opened last year.
Throughout the summer, the group offers both one-day and three-day camps for youth, separated into two age groups — 7-10 and 11-14.
Campers and visitors will learn that the biggest threat to the ridleys — and several other species of sea creatures — isn’t targeted attacks, but incidental human-caused dangers, such as entanglement in commercial fishing nets.
Advocates and experts like those at Sea Turtle Inc. have helped mitigate the danger by helping develop trap doors in the nets that enable many of the turtles, dolphins and other bycatch creatures to escape the nets.
Local residents might know the story of the organization and its founder, Ila Marie Fox Loetscher, who died in 2000. According to a Texas State Historical Association biography, Loetscher joined a friend in 1966 on a trip to Tamaulipas to collect turtle eggs to save them from poachers, and relocate them to South Padre Island where they had a better chance of survival. It led to a lifelong commitment that brought the turtles’ plight to international attention and created Sea Turtle Inc.
Could similar exposure to Loetscher’s, and the turtles’ story inspire future advocates that can help ensure the future success of sea turtles, and other wildlife?
One way to find out is to visit Sea Turtle Inc., learn about the creatures and see dedicated workers in action.