The population of the world’s smallest sea turtle species, the so-called Kemp’s Ridley, is doing better. In the 1980s, there were only a few hundred individuals left. Today there are several thousand of them. The progress is due to several efforts to protect the turtles. – It has helped the population that nature conservation organizations have begun to take care of the turtles’ nests by, among other things, restricting access to the beach where they lay eggs. Beyond that, the number of unintentional killings with fishing nets has decreased, says Lars Skou Olsen from Den Blå Planet. He is an expert in nature conservation. “Arribada” Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles often lay their eggs on a single beach in Mexico. But about a hundred of the turtles have begun to spread north. And for the first time, one has laid eggs on Magnolia Beach in Texas. There are two possible scenarios for why the turtle lays eggs on a new beach, the expert believes. – Either it has strayed away from the beach, or there have been so many turtles laying eggs on the beach in Mexico that there was no room for it. The latter would be fantastic, says Lars Skou Olsen. Sea turtles are very special animals, as they can very accurately find their way back to where they were born. They can do this as they have a kind of built-in GPS, where they use the earth’s magnetic fields to navigate around the globe. This is important because turtles breed where they were born. They tend to lay eggs at “Rancho Nuevo”, a beach in Mexico, where they swim ashore in flocks. The event is called “arribada”, which can be translated to “arrival”. There is a greater chance that the individual turtle will survive if they are many together. But it does not matter much if it is due to confusion or lack of space, that the turtle has swum all the way to Texas. Every time a Kemp’s Ridley lays eggs, it is a success for the conservation of the species. Pamela Plotkin, director of Sea Grant at Texas A&M University and a marine scientist specializing in sea turtles, told CNN. A clear success story Despite its progress, Kemp’s Ridley is still the most endangered of all the sea turtle species. It is different from other sea turtles, which makes it even more vulnerable. Where other species lay eggs at night, Kemp’s Ridley lays its eggs during the day, when human activity is greatest. Like all other sea turtle species, it is also pressured by fishing, because it drowns if it is stuck in a fishing net. The species also leaves its eggs for a long time before they hatch, and therefore makes the young extra vulnerable to animals such as gulls, coyotes and raccoons or technological threats such as cars. It will therefore take more work if the stock is to one day be able to fend for itself without human intervention. – It could also help a lot to ensure that fishing was banned during the time period when they lay eggs. Scientists know exactly when it is and on which beaches. It does not help much that they are protected on land, if they are caught by a fishing cutter the second they come out to sea. Or you could create a marine national park, where the area was protected all year round, Lars Skou Olsen dreams loudly. The turtles have a great future, if they continue to reproduce. – The success story is quite clear that there will be more of them. Sexually mature females lay on average over a hundred eggs two to three times per breeding season, so if the young survive, there will quickly be many turtles. But the real success story is when they can manage on their own.
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The world’s smallest sea turtle has a great future
