Turtle nesting triumph: ‘A legacy I’m leaving to all of you and your future generations’

Kemp’s ridley sea turtles have built a record number of nests along the Texas coast this year. 

That’s good news for biologists working to save the world’s most endangered turtle species. Nearly 400 nests have been found, with nesting season continuing.

Dr. Donna Shaver is chief of the sea turtle science and recovery at Padre Island National Seashore. She says her team, and the turtles, have overcome many challenges this year. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: Remind us why the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is so important and what makes him unique. 

Donna Shaver: Well, Kemp’s ridley is the most critically endangered of the sea turtles and it’s been named the Texas Sea Turtle. It is the only species that nests mostly during the daytime and is the smallest and the lightest of the sea turtles and that’s mostly in the western Gulf of Mexico.

I know that you’ve had some challenges at the seashore when it comes to turtles that might have led to a slow nesting season and yet here we are talking about a record number of nests. Can you say more about why you think so many nests appeared this year in spite of the challenges? 

Well, we had a lot of challenges, but I have very dedicated staff and very dedicated volunteers, as well as others with the other sea turtle nesting programs in Texas. So far this year, there’s been 396 Kemp’s ridley nests found in Texas compared to our previous record of 353. 

So why I think this year was a good year was that it appears that we had a increase in the number of new turtles that came to the nesting beach, like young females that integrated into the nests population, as well as remigrants that came back from various years — intervals, anywhere from one year ago, all the way to four or five years ago. 

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You mentioned the challenges. Could we touch briefly on what those challenges were and how your team stepped in to help? 

Well, we had challenges with hiring, it occurred late. We had some days with high tides, we had some days with thunderstorms.

We had issues with our radio and we had a pinch point that developed at our 40-mile marker, which kept us off of the area from the 40- to the 60-mile markers, which is about two thirds of our patrol route for at least half of the nesting season. 

Now when you are patrolling, what is it that you’re looking for and how do your teams intervene?

Yes, the Kemp’s ridley is so critically endangered, we want to protect the nesting turtles while they’re on the beach. It’s only about 45 minutes for the whole nesting process of crawling out of the water, digging a hole, laying the eggs, covering and going back to sea, providing no maternal care.

But those 45 minutes, she’s very vulnerable. She could be predated upon by coyotes. So we don’t want that to happen. We don’t anybody to harm her inadvertently by rushing up to her and scaring her back into the water or, God forbid, anybody not seeing her as they’re driving their car and colliding with her or driving over her.

So we’re looking for the nesting turtle on the beach or the tracks that she leaves in the sand – the tell-tale tracks that, if you’re lucky, will lead up to where the nest is located. They tend to nest on windy days, and they tend to nest in aggregations called arribadas.

So everything about looking for nests by Kemp’s ridleys is challenging. 

Sounds like it. And you’ve been doing this for how long?

I’ve been doing this since 1980 – for the last 45 years. 

Goodness. Has there been a time that’s comparable to what you’re encountering out there with the sea turtles right now? 

When I first started, and what made me decide this was my calling, was we would only find one Kemp’s ridley nest on the Texas coast every three or four years, as opposed to where we are today. And we’ve been working for these decades to form a secondary nesting colony of turtles here at Padre National Seashore, as a safeguard against extinction for the species. 

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This is remarkable work that you are doing and have been doing, obviously, but how confident are you that the turtle is in better shape? I mean, you can have rough years, I would imagine. Just so much you can do with your patrols, I guess. 

We know it is better than it was when it got to the low point of only 702 nests worldwide in 1985 when the population crashed.

We have signs that a secondary nesting colony has become established, but we need them to grow in numbers. As fast as we got these numbers to grow, they could go back in the other direction if we don’t continue our protection efforts for them. 

This is your life’s work, it sounds like. I mean, you’ve been with this rising from, I believe you were telling me, a student, to now you’re the chief of this entire operation here.

Of course, there’s been a lot of concern about the possibility of budget cuts. What are you hearing on that front? 

We don’t know. I’m just praying really hard because it took me a long time to build this program from a zero-dollar budget to bringing in the funding and the personnel and what was needed to run this program. And I would sure hate to lose it because I don’t know how we would ever rebuild it again. So I’m saying a lot of prayers. 

I didn’t have children of my own because I built a program and I knew I was going to have to make a lot of sacrifices for that, which I did. But this is a legacy I’m leaving to all of you and your future generations. This is a Texas treasure that does not belong to me or any individual at all.

They’re their own beings and what a magnificent species. People are inspired when they see the nesting turtles. People are inspired when it’s these little hatchlings. 

We have a public hatching release coming up. That is going to be on Saturday, the 28th of June, down here at Padre National Seashore. People are interested in coming to it. Please check out our Facebook page to get information about how to attend, what to do. 

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