Endangered sea turtle nest discovered at Galveston Island State Park for the primary time in a decade – Houston Public Media

A nest of endangered sea turtle eggs was found on the beachside of Galveston Island State Park final week — the first nest found at the park in over a decade.

The nest contained 107 eggs laid by a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, which is without doubt one of the most endangered sea turtle species on the earth.

This was the first nest found at Galveston Island State Park since 2012, based on Christopher Marshall, a professor of Marine Biology at Texas A&M and director for the Gulf Middle for Sea Turtle Analysis.

As soon as the nest was found, it was delivered to an incubation facility at Padre Island Nationwide Seashore, Marshall mentioned.

“Every egg matters,” Marshall said. "Plenty of nesting habitat for the Kemp's Ridley has been misplaced to storms, excessive tide and predation, which is why you will need to transport these nests to an environment where they have the perfect probability for survival into maturity."

The species was nearly lost in the Eighties until intensive conservation efforts had been applied on nesting beaches and through fisheries management, based on NOAA Fisheries. Bycatch — the intentional capture of non-target species whereas fishing — continues to be the biggest threat going through Kemp's Ridley sea turtles.

Marshall mentioned the everyday nesting season for the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle runs between April 1 and July 15. He urged anybody who finds a nest to stay not less than 60 toes away and to name the Sea Turtle hotline at 1-866-TURTLE-5.

Fill out the form beneath to subscribe our new daily editorial publication from the HPM Newsroom.