from mysa.com

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Texas-has-record-236-Kemp-s-ridley-turtle-nests-11154550.php

Apache said:

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The number of endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests discovered on the Texas Gulf Coast has surpassed 236 nests, exceeding the previous record of 209 nests in 2012, a National Parks Service official said.The record number found midway through the nesting season offers hope that the state's official sea turtle may be on the rebound following a decline after the 2010 BP oil spill that fouled turtle feeding grounds and killed untold numbers of juveniles.

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Oil spill in 2010, record number of nests in 2012. Officials hope the turtle may be on the rebound? Two years after the spill there are record nests!

What were the numbers from 2012-2016? Did nest numbers plummet?How many juveniles were killed by the spill, if any? Untold could be 1 or 1,000.

Love seeing turtles & I'm glad there are increasing.... but this reporting is short on facts. Typical I suppose.

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The juveniles killed probably wouldn't have been of breeding age. Kemp's Ridleys reach sexual maturity at about 10 years. You'd want to see if there were record nests in '90-'92 to see if something is going right or if you just had a bunch of turtles reaching maturity.

It's possible that the oil spill decreased competition and predators for older breeding turtles in their breeding grounds immediately after the spill and they had more success. As the population recovered and predator populations recovered, they had less success. The real breeding impact of the spill won't be felt for another 3-5 years when those juveniles killed would have reached maturity, though the success of the following two years may help offset that.

This graph only goes to 2013, but it does support this somewhat:


ETA: Also, notice the trend leading to 2010 and 2010.

ETA: Found more complete numbers.

2009: 197
2010: 141
2011: 199
2012: 209
2013: 153
2014: 119
2015: 159
2016: 185

More numbers.
Very interesting subject matter... all states along the gulf coast use a TED (Turtle Exclusion Device) except for Louisiana apparently.

I know that a hard freeze can kill vegetation in estuaries and bays. What kind of an impact on turtles will this have? Any correlation between a drop in nesting numbers and bad freezes?

Not many freezes on the coast, plus the eggs are buried. When is the last time SPI had a freeze that went 12" deep?

Bad freezes can kill a turtle. Folks often rescue "stunned" (not sure that is the best word) turtles to be warmed up and rehabbed. A lot make it and a few don't. So I'd imagine a bad freeze could affect nesting numbers to some degree.

I doubt it gets below freezing anywhere in Texas 12" deep.

There was a very hard freeze in the winter of '09-'10. I didn't mean to imply the freeze would kill eggs; rather that it could impact vegetation and habitat in bays (and thus food) that the turtles require.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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It's possible that the oil spill decreased competition and predators for older breeding turtles in their breeding grounds immediately after the spill and they had more success. As the population recovered and predator populations recovered, they had less success. The real breeding impact of the spill won't be felt for another 3-5 years when those juveniles killed would have reached maturity, though the success of the following two years may help offset that.

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Just curious, what kind of predator populations do you think would have been impacted by the oil spill?

Probably not. Water takes a long time to heat up and a long time to cool down.

vanderhoosen said:

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ABATTBQ11 said:

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It's possible that the oil spill decreased competition and predators for older breeding turtles in their breeding grounds immediately after the spill and they had more success. As the population recovered and predator populations recovered, they had less success. The real breeding impact of the spill won't be felt for another 3-5 years when those juveniles killed would have reached maturity, though the success of the following two years may help offset that.

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Just curious, what kind of predator populations do you think would have been impacted by the oil spill?

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All of them.

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On South Padre Island, Texas, what local weather coverage called an arctic blast demonstrated just how different the effects of freezing temperatures are on cold-blooded creatures such as the endangered green sea turtle.
When the water temperature in part of the Gulf of Mexico fell into the fifties, over three dozen young sea turtles washed ashore.
Being cold-blooded, their body temperatures dropped with the temperature of the water. As a result, their body functions shut down to the point that they were comatose. This condition was dangerous enough in and of itself for the already endangered sea turtles, but made worse by the threat of predators eager to take advantage of the turtles' vulnerability.

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Cold Weather Turtles

I couldn't find anything about the impact of cold weather on seagrass (Hurricanes are certainly bad and could impact habitat). From the link above, it appears cold weather could have a real impact on numbers.

Ridleys are usually way off shore and should not be too affected by freezing weather, especially during the time of year that freezing weather is possible. I think I have heard of one Ridley being found stressed or dead due to temp., but it is usually Green's and other turtles that are more inshore species that get hammered by the cold.

The one likely thing that probably helped the Ridley was/is the TED, as the Ridley's are offshore turtles in a major way. When Shrimpers are really truthful they will admit that, at least in the past, there were frequent turtle drownings in the nets. Also, the number of Gulf Shrimpers is way down, which had a positive impact on both turtle and other finfish mortality.

I have been to the Rancho Nuevo deal in Mexico a couple of times and they do guard the piss out of it. Lots of military around it, as the area became a hotbed for water borne dope the "military" presence increased in the area and all the troubles in northern Mexico also really decreased people traffic in that area as well. The large military contingent in the Rancho Nuevo area always led me to believe that there was a dual purpose other than the turtles, as when I say there was military there, there were easily 50-100 troops around both time I was near it and a larger garrison in Soto La Marina and Aldama both.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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vanderhoosen said:

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ABATTBQ11 said:

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It's possible that the oil spill decreased competition and predators for older breeding turtles in their breeding grounds immediately after the spill and they had more success. As the population recovered and predator populations recovered, they had less success. The real breeding impact of the spill won't be felt for another 3-5 years when those juveniles killed would have reached maturity, though the success of the following two years may help offset that.

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Just curious, what kind of predator populations do you think would have been impacted by the oil spill?

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All of them.

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So when you say "All of them" you mean sharks? That is really the only legit predator of an adult sea turtle that I can think of. I think it would be difficult to to find hard data showing a great decline in shark populations from the BP Oil Spill.

Are those illegal to eat? Asking for a friend

Apache said:

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More numbers.
Very interesting subject matter... all states along the gulf coast use a TED (Turtle Exclusion Device) except for Louisiana apparently.

I know that a hard freeze can kill vegetation in estuaries and bays. What kind of an impact on turtles will this have? Any correlation between a drop in nesting numbers and bad freezes?

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They don't eat the vegetation in bays and estuaries. Primary food is mollusks, crabs and jellyfish with maybe a little seaweed mixed in.