Of the six sea turtle species occurring in United States’ waters, all of them are listed under the Endangered Species Act. The smallest of all sea turtles, the Kemp’s ridley, is among these sea turtles and calls the Gulf of Mexico home. Having existed for millions of years, this small but resilient turtle has escaped extinction once before but is threatened once more.
The Kemp’s ridley is now threatened by the massive oil spill still ongoing in the Gulf of Mexico due to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Since April 30th, 156 sea turtles have been found deceased and most of them have been Kemp’s ridley turtles. Whether the oil has been the force behind the deaths is currently under investigation. However, experts fear that many more turtles are perishing than can be determined as they all do not wash ashore.
The Gulf of Mexico is the primary nesting area and habitat of the Kemp’s ridley, which nests from May until July. Fortunately the nesting grounds are located off Padre Island, Texas and Mexican beaches, which have yet to succumb to oil contamination. However, the females of the species are known to recuperate near the mouth of the Mississippi, which is being plagued with oil.
In addition, the majority of the turtles being found that have perished are juvenile turtles, turtles which do not come to shore like nesting mothers. Juvenile turtles are essential for the survival of the species, a species that almost came to not exist in the 1980s. A number of factors plagued the turtles then, including the Ixtoc 1 oil spill, pollution and people using their eggs for food, dropping their numbers to only a few hundred. The species has rebounded and is now numbering over 8,000 full adults.
Researchers are currently attaching radio transmitters to Kemp’s ridley sea turtles in order to track the impact of the current oil spill. It will enable the researchers to have a more accurate depiction of the true effects of the spill on the turtles and whether they are avoiding the spill or succumbing to it. Unlike many other marine species, the Kemp ridley does not breed anywhere else. Researchers are again concerned that the Kemp’s ridley will become extinct more than 20 years after it did once before.
