So between April and July, we watch for turtles coming ashore. Once we spot a sea turtle trail, we follow it to find the place where the female buried her eggs. That's hard to say, primarily because a lot of people aren't aware that we have turtles in the area. Their presence is a new phenomenon, and, at this point, we have very few nests. I think there's a good chance that people will react positively to having Kemp's ridleys here.
Sea turtles are ancient creatures and very charismatic.
The refuge is working to educate the local community about Kemp's ridleys, and we are looking forward to having local support in conserving these creatures. On the other hand, we realize that not everyone is on the same page about sea turtles. Protecting sea turtles has been very complicated in areas all over the world, and, realistically speaking, we face the same potential problems here that plague sea turtles everywhere, from egg poaching and turtle poaching to strandings due to fishing-related activities. We've definitely got our work cut out for us. It's hard to gauge actual impacts to sea turtles nesting on Boca Chica beach because we are so new to this issue.