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Marine Turtle Newsletter 63:3-4, © 1993
Phil Williams
National Sea Turtle Coordinator, National Marine Fisheries Service
Office of Protected Resources, 1335 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 USA
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) did not formally appeal the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) 19 July 1993 decision to deny a permit to import 2,000 Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) hatchlings into the United States for an ongoing "head-start" experiment. NMFS provided all relevant information in its application of 19 January 1993 and in a detailed response to reviewers' comments on 28 June 1993. We discussed with USFWS their reasons for denial and determined that they would not change their decision.
The decision to deny our request for an import permit is certainly debatable; head-starting is controversial among sea turtle scientists, even within NMFS. NMFS scientists and managers have been arguing over the value of this program for several years, and our scientists and some managers have made recommendations to end the rearing of hatchlings and to concentrate instead on learning more about Kemp's ridleys in the wild. The most recent independent review of the head-start experiment (Eckert et al., 1992) essentially found that the success or failure of NMFS' head-start experiment could not be evaluated unless we could measure the survivorship and nesting success of both head-started and wild turtles in the wild. The review panel determined that NMFS had released sufficient numbers of juvenile Kemp's ridleys over the years and recommended that we concentrate our resources at sea and on the nesting beaches, rather than growing more turtles.
NMFS chose to apply for a permit to import hatchlings for another year for several reasons. An additional 2,000 head-started juveniles would have increased our chances of tracking head-started turtles in the wild, while providing additional information on captive rearing requirements. NMFS also wanted to continue a program that has had a positive educational influence by raising public awareness of the threats to sea turtles and the need for their protection. Finally, there was some concern that shrimp fishermen might view ending head-starting as proof positive that NMFS was placing the entire burden of Kemp's ridley population recovery squarely on the back of the industry.
As most of you know, NMFS implemented regulations effective 1 December 1992 that phase-in the required use of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) by shrimpers, year around, in all U.S. waters of the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. However, some members of Congress have viewed turtle hatcheries as an alternative to the use of TEDs and have, in the past, introduced legislation to fund head-start operations by states and universities around the Gulf of Mexico. NMFS and USFWS have both testified before congressional committees to explain why releasing head-started turtles should not be viewed as a resource conservation measure. The confusion over head-starting being an unproven experiment or a bona fide conservation measure has also been evidenced by resource managers in other countries requesting assistance in setting up head-start programs to "conserve" their own turtle stocks. In addition, some environmentalists and NMFS personnel have also operated under the misconception that releasing head-started turtles is a proven conservation measure.
Ending the rearing phase of the head-start experiment was painful, largely because of its suddenness. It is unfortunate that the USFWS decision was made only days before this year's planned import of hatchlings despite our applying for the necessary permits some six months earlier. It caused embarrassment to both NMFS and to the Government of Mexico, which had already approved the export of its hatchlings to the U.S. Nevertheless, while head-start as we have known it has ended, there is much to do to ensure recovery of the Kemp's ridley. NMFS and USFWS will work together to accomplish this, and we invite the supporters of the head-start experiment to join us. NMFS will place special emphasis on detecting tagged turtles in the wild and will work with USFWS to establish a control of wild turtles to measure their survivorship and fecundity. This effort will help us learn the fate of head-started turtles and will also provide information about the status and survivorship of wild Kemp's ridleys.
There is still a great deal of work to be done. Two hundred Kemp's ridley hatchlings imported earlier this summer will be raised at the Galveston head-start facility for physiological research and TED testing with juvenile turtles. During this past year we have painfully learned that the recovery of this species is not assured simply by implementing comprehensive TED regulations or protecting the nesting beach at Rancho Nuevo. The stranding of 13 adult Kemp's ridleys (11 of them gravid females) at Rancho Nuevo, which occurred while Mexican shrimp trawlers operated offshore, and the stranding of more than 100 small juvenile ridleys near Grand Isle, Louisiana (this despite excellent observed TED use, since the young turtles were too small to be excluded by the TEDs) indicate that continued vigilance, research, and action remain.
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.