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Marine Turtle Newsletter 63:1-2, © 1993

Head-Start Experiment Longer Rearing Kemp's Ridleys

Richard Byles
National Sea Turtle Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service P. O. Box 1306, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87103 USA

As many sea turtle folks know, the captive rearing portion of the head-start experiment begun by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in 1978 was terminated this year after 15 years of raising Kemp's ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) and releasing them at about 10 months of age. Earlier this year, NMFS applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for an amendment to their Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) permit request to import 2,000 Kemp's ridley hatchlings from Mexico. After review of all pertinent information, USFWS denied the CITES permit amendment request on 19 July 1993. The experiment has been removing approximately 2,000 hatchlings per year for the past 15 years from the wild population of the most endangered sea turtle in the world. The denial of the permit for the further importation of this species for head-starting was based on sound biological reasoning. The decision appeal process allowed NMFS to bring new biological evidence to the attention of USFWS within 45 days of receipt of the denial letter. The deadline for the appeal in this case was 2 September 1993. NMFS did not choose to appeal the decision during that 45-day period.

The USFWS Office of Management Authority (OMA) based the CITES permit denial on a review by the Office of Scientific Authority (OSA) of the available biological evidence, including recommendations of the Southwest and the Southeast Regional Offices. The OSA could not establish that the continued removal of 2,000 wild hatchlings for the experiment would not be detrimental to the survival of the species. Contributing to the decision were the following: (1) many sea turtle researchers and managers have been outspoken in their opposition to the continued head-start of hatchling Kemp's ridleys, (2) a panel of experts, convened by NMFS in September 1992 to review the experiment, recommended that NMFS concentrate on marking wild hatchlings (as a control) and look for the 16,500 head-start turtles with adequate marking that have already been released rather than continue to head-start more Kemp's ridleys (Eckert et al., 1992), and, perhaps most importantly, (3) the Kemp's Ridley Recovery Plan (USFWS/NMFS, 1992) does not view the experiment as a recovery task and gives the head-start experiment no priority in the reestablishment of the species.

Head-start of Kemp's ridley sea turtles was begun in 1978 as part of a larger program of "last ditch efforts" to reverse an alarming decline in the nesting population of this species. In 1947, approximately 40,000 females were seen in one day on the only nesting beach at Rancho Nuevo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. By the 1970's, fewer than 1,000 females came ashore to nest in the entire season. USFWS, NMFS, National Park Service (NPS), and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department joined forces with the Government of Mexico in an ambitious, unique cooperative effort to assist Mexico in protecting adults, eggs, hatchlings, and nesting habitat. The coalition also embarked on a program to enhance a project that had been initiated by private citizens in Texas, whereby eggs laid at Rancho Nuevo were transplanted to Texas in hopes of establishing a new colony of Kemp's ridleys. The egg transplant techniques were refined to incorporate many possible incubation and natal homing cues in an attempt to imprint the eggs/hatchlings on Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, with the hope that the turtles would return there to lay eggs as adults. In addition, the hatchlings were to be raised to a larger size before being released, theoretically to give them a "head-start" against the myriad of hatchling predators.

Experimental attempts to imprint hatchlings were discontinued in 1988, but NPS continues to seek proof of the experiment by patrolling its beaches to document the return of imprinted, head-started adult turtles to nest. As yet, they have not detected an increase in ridley nesting above the one or two nests sometimes seen annually along the Texas coast. NMFS continued the experimental work in their Galveston facility, but after 1988, 2,000 hatchlings imprinted at Rancho Nuevo were head-started rather than head-starting the eggs/hatchlings imprinted on Padre Island as before.

In 1978, at the same time the head-start experiment was begun, a bi-national project between USFWS and Instituto Nacional de Pesca (INP) of the Government of Mexico also was begun to fully protect the only known nesting beach. At the time, we were unsure of the protection that could be afforded the nesting beach. We knew only that there were severe declines in the numbers of turtles nesting each year and that the species faced extinction. USFWS support for this project has been continuous in cooperation with INP for the past 15 years. The beach project has grown to three camps and the bi-national team's surveillance with motorized all-terrain vehicle patrols during the annual nesting season is equivalent in mileage to encircling the earth more than three times. I believe the protection of the nesting beach and the turtles nesting there is the single, most important action we can take to protect the species from extinction. We also have regulations to alleviate the single greatest cause of mortality in the Gulf of Mexico, which is incidental mortality in shrimp trawls. Optimism for the recovery of the species comes from an apparent reversal of the decline in nesting females with an increase in nests of about 8% per year since 1985. Concurrent broad compliance with TED regulations should result in large increases in the recruitment of nesting adults in the next decade.

Lest the cessation of the rearing portion of the head-start experiment be seen as a failure of these many years of effort, two points come to mind. First, the experiment is not over. NMFS, USFWS, NPS, INP, and others are committed to seeking evidence of marked nesting females on beaches of the western Gulf of Mexico. Second, the experiment has been a positive force in sea turtle conservation since 1978. NMFS is to be commended for all of the hard work and for the development of captive rearing techniques. We may need these valuable lessons in the future if a catastrophic event affects the population. Further, the head-start project at Galveston (Texas) provided education for many thousands of school children and adults. Help Endangered Animals - Ridley Turtles (HEART) has been instrumental in this arena. They have used the visibility of head-start to mobilize children and their parents, in Texas and nationwide, in the cause of conservation of sea turtles.

In spite of the slight increase in nesting females at Rancho Nuevo, Mexico, and the advent of TED regulations in the United States and Mexico, the battle to save Kemp's ridley is far from over. In order to restore the population in the Gulf of Mexico, we need to continue to aid Mexico in the protection of the world's only known nesting beach. USFWS is committed to this course of action. We look forward to the continued cooperation of NMFS scientists and managers to provide us with biological information on the species and its whereabouts, and we recognize that the regulatory role of NMFS in the protection of the species at sea is essential. Moreover, we need strong enforcement efforts at sea in the U.S. by NMFS and the Coast Guard and in Mexico by the Secretaría de Marina if TED regulations are to be effective. We also certainly need the efforts of the non-governmental organizations in the conservation community (e.g., HEART, Center for Marine Conservation, Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund, PRONATURA) to educate the public concerning the plight of the sea turtles and man-caused threats to their existence.

Eckert, S. A., D. Crouse, L. B. Crowder, M. Maceina, and A. Shah. 1992. Review of the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Headstart Experiment. Report prepared for the National Marine Fisheries Service, Miami. 9 p.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service. 1992. Recovery Plan for the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle, Lepidochelys kempii. National Marine Fisheries Service, St. Petersburg, Florida. 40 p.