Good
morning:
This excellent
article in today's Houston Chronicle by Harvey Rice points out issues that
must be addressed if we are to document more Kemp's ridleys on
the upper Texas Coast and make sure they survive.
We need many more patrols and much more public
awareness. Representing thousands of citizens who have supported the
recovery of the Kemp's ridley sea turtle for 30 years, the Sea Turtle
Restoration Project asks the US Fish and Wildlife
Service to provide funding and staffing for patrols and protection of
nesters and hatchlings. We have been very fortunate that the Galveston facility
of National Marine Fisheries Service has stretched their manpower to
respond to calls from the public regarding sea turtles from the Louisiana
border to Freeport. With the obvious increase in Kemp's ridley nesters,
they must have help. We also request that Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department assist in providing research funds for more patrolling on the upper
Texas coast.
The emergence of
hatchlings from a nest on Bolivar Peninsula that had not been
discovered and the subsequent death of hatchlings from traffic makes it
obvious that more patrols are needed. The massive daily patrol
program provided by federal staff and volunteers at the Padre
Island National Seashore has proven once again that more vigilance results in
finding more sea turtles and their nests. Of the 193 nests found this year
on the Texas Coast, 91 of them were located at the Padre Island National
Seashore. It is time for the upper Texas Coast to receive equal attention
from both federal and state agencies.
Carole Allen, Gulf Office Director
Sea
Turtle Restoration Project-TEXAS
HEART
(Help Endangered Animals-Ridley Turtles)
P. O.
Box 681231
Houston, Texas 77268-1231
Phone/FAX 281-444-6204
Websites: www.ridleyturtles.org
www.seaturtles.
org
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