Rather than concentrating efforts to detect when a shrimp trawler is properly using a TED, the Coast Guard need only see whether an unauthorized vessel is in the safety zone by aerial surveillance and port oversight. Without this enforcement capability, the Kemp's ridley sea turtles on Padre Island may be doomed to extinction. However, this designation is not a panacea for the plight of the sea turtles. Even with the designation of the safety zone around Padre Island, Coast Guard enforcement of the shrimping vessels, including site inspection and boarding, is still a necessary and vital element of the protection for the sea turtles. Conclusion The 20- year effort to save and recover these turtles could all be for naught if shrimping vessels are permitted to operate within the sea turtles' critical nesting habitat around Padre Island.
Immediate action is mandated by the ever-increasing number of strandings.
An international coalition of marine biologists and sea turtle scientists called for the creation of a Kemp's Ridley Marine Reserve along North and South Padre Islands during the March 1999 International Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation and Biology. The sea turtle experts passed a resolution asking all federal and state agencies to designate the marine reserve. Creating a Coast Guard Safety Zone would help achieve this goal and would have the support of some of the world's eminent marine scientists.