What it takes to save the turtles

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kwbyron
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What it takes to save the turtles

Post by kwbyron »

SO, I thought I would let ya'll know what all I'm doing down south. I know I mentioned it before, but I'm done with my training and am now in a better position to let you know what's involved with reestablishing the historical nesting site along Padre Island National Seashore.

Kemp's Ridley turtles are the most critically endangered turtle, populations were wiped out from over 40,000 females to as low as 700; currently I think they are around 4,000. Almost all the females nest along a beach in Mexico, and my current job is helping to reestablish nesting along the Texas Coast. There were 120 nests along the Texas coast last year. Most turtles tend to nest in groups called arrabatas and prefer to do so just before and after the passages of fronts.

SO! We patrol the 60-some odd miles of beach along the national park in UTV's looking for the tracks of these turtles. Since they are the smallest and lightest of the turtles, they leave the faintest tracks; and remember that thing about fronts?? Right, they like windy days...which blows around the sand making them even harder to find. Then, there is the sea weed that they crawl over and conceal even more of the tracks; but we work hard and find them. We radio in every time we find a nest, or if we find a dead or stranded turtle of any species (all have to be collected and rehabed, or examined for a cause of death and research). Occasionally we'll be asked to drag one behind the dunes if it's not needed, or too far decomposed to necropsy...now we get to worry about the rattle snakes. When we get off, we are free to do what we want down island, while swimming we have to be carefully of the sting-rays since medical services are 2+ hours out...if we can get ahold of them. There is also west nile virus and flesh eating bacteria. OH! One woman was giving them mouth-to-mouth and it threw up in her mouth, giving her hepatitis, so we have to be aware the turtles carry that as well.

Now, about Padre Island... The sea shore is a barrier Island along the Texas Coast with two converging currents just of the coast...this equals trash, and lots of it. Things wash ashore here that shouldn't even float (last week I saw a computer monitor and a television). So to keep up with this, they ask us to pick up a bag of trash each day we patrol; however, they don't want us to pick up everything...Things like broken glass, light bulbs, the medical waste from Mexico (needles, vials of medicine, ext..), those 55-gallon drums of unlabeled toxic waste, military grade phosphorous flares, and underwater mines.....The drums and ordinance we radio in for the on-site hazmat team.

The best for last, Padre Island is a major drug smuggling corridor, so along with everything else...we will be coming across illegals and drugs washing up on shore. I guess one guy found over a million dollars of narcotics, there are bags of pot washing ashore all the time...and we are being told that there might be armed guards watching drops; so we don't have to pick up the drugs either.

BUT! We are saving the turtle, getting paid for it, and this is my office!
Image
More photos:
http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g162/kwbyron/PAIS/
-Kevin
I feel like a fish out of the water when I'm not diving.
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Pez7378
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Re: What it takes to save the turtles

Post by Pez7378 »

Awesome report Kevin! Just don't get so into saving the turtles that you end up with Hep! :vom: It sounds like challenging work.
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sparky
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Re: What it takes to save the turtles

Post by sparky »

Hey Kevin:
Sounds like you guys have your work cut out for you.
my wife is a lover of Sea turtles whats the chances of getting a good picture of one of these guys posted

keep up the good work

are you getting any diving in yet?

Sparky
A Smart Man
Learns from his mistakes

A Wise Man
Learns from the mistakes of those that have gone before him
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Nwbrewer
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Re: What it takes to save the turtles

Post by Nwbrewer »

Sparky did you check his link. Lot's of (dry) turtle pics.
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kwbyron
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Re: What it takes to save the turtles

Post by kwbyron »

On wednesday we radio tagged and Adult Male Kemp's Ripley and released him. You can track him at:
http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index ... g_id=82213
Here are some photos of the tagging and release:
http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g162/ ... GP2109.jpg

On Thursday we rescued a small Hawksbill from the beach and took him to a rehab facility in Port Aransas called the ARK. I'll get some photos of those posted when I get copies.
-Kevin
I feel like a fish out of the water when I'm not diving.
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airsix
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Re: What it takes to save the turtles

Post by airsix »

Kevin, thanks for sharing this. Very interesting stuff.
-Ben
"The place looked like a washing machine full of Josh's carharts. I was not into it." --Sockmonkey
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sparky
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Re: What it takes to save the turtles

Post by sparky »

Nwbrewer wrote:Sparky did you check his link. Lot's of (dry) turtle pics.

I tryed to get the link to open and it would not

but I got it working now
not sure why it works now
im no computer wizz but it seems I had to restart my comouter for some reason other sites would not open for me as well

But I see them now

Sparky
A Smart Man
Learns from his mistakes

A Wise Man
Learns from the mistakes of those that have gone before him
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