Padre Island National Seashore Kemp's Ridley Tracking - 2010

A project of Padre Island National Seashore Kemp's Ridley Tracking Program in conjunction with the partners and sponsors detailed below.

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Introduction

Each year since 1997, with the exception of 2009, satellite transmitters have been attached to a few adult female Kemp’s ridley sea turtles that nested at, and in the vicinity of, Padre Island National Seashore. Padre Island National Seashore is the site of the long-term, bi-national project to increase nesting by Kemp’s ridley turtles to form a secondary nesting colony at a protected beach in the U.S., as a safeguard against species extinction. Over half the Kemp’s ridley nests found in the U.S. each year are located at Padre Island National Seashore. After decades of hard work by many people in the U.S. and Mexico, Kemp’s ridley nesting is increasing rapidly.

Movements of nesting turtles are being monitored using satellite telemetry to determine where they go between successive clutches in a nesting season and after they have completed nesting for the year. This information is important in helping identify migratory corridors and foraging habitat used by post-nesting females. Kemp’s ridley turtles nest an average of 2.5-3.0 times per season. Movements of nesting turtles are also being tracked as a means to help predict where and when the turtles might nest again, to aid with nest detection.

Transmitters may function up to 28 months, before transmissions cease due to battery failure, bio-fouling, loss of the transmitter antenna, or the transmitter falling off.

Findings for turtles outfitted with transmitters between 1997 and 2006 are reported in Shaver and Rubio (2008). The 28 individuals tracked (n=36 transmitters) primarily inhabited shallower waters along the Gulf of Mexico coastline, including waters off the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast states. After completing nesting for the season, most of the tracked turtles left south Texas and traveled northward, parallel to the coastline, with their last identified location in the northern or eastern Gulf of Mexico. Inter-nesting residency was documented off south Texas and post-nesting residency in U.S. Gulf of Mexico waters from south Texas to western coast and tip of Florida.

The program was expanded to include monitoring of adult males in 2006, to gather information on their movements in this region. One adult male was tracked in 2006 and another was tracked in 2008.

Shaver, D.J., and C. Rubio. 2008. Post-nesting movement of wild and head-started Kemp’s ridley sea turtles Lepidochelys kempii in the Gulf of Mexico. Endangered Species Research 4:43-55.

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