Hannah Berger, a seasonal biological technician, displays a Kemp's ridley hatchling to the crowd at the public release August 9.

It’s 7 a.m. and hundreds of people crowd around a small plastic foam cooler at Padre Island National Seashore. Unlike most coolers on the popular South Texas beach, this particular cooler isn’t stocked with the usual beers and snacks for a day in the sand and sun – this one is filled with critically-endangered baby Kemp’s ridley sea turtles. 

The 146 hatchlings released on August 9 are part of the Sea Turtle Science and Recovery Program’s conservation efforts at Padre Island National Seashore. Since 1978, researchers and conservationists have worked to bring the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle back from the brink of extinction by establishing a secondary nesting colony in Texas, said Dr. Donna Shaver, Chief of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery for the National Park Service at Padre Island National Seashore. Since its inception, the program has successfully released over 258,000 hatchlings into the wild.

“When I came in 1980, I thought it might be too late,” Shaver said. 

According to the National Park Service, the total population of female Kemp’s ridley turtles was around 40,000 in the 1940s, but by the mid-1980s, that number had dropped to less than 300.

Dr. Donna Shaver carries a cooler containing endangered baby Kemp's ridley turtles to a release site.

Due to extensive conservation efforts, Kemp’s ridley nesting began increasing by about 15 percent every year starting in 1997, with the number of nests peaking in 2009 with 20,000 nests. However, the numbers have stagnated since then, Shaver said, and researchers are still investigating what caused the slowdown. Bycatch – the unintended capture of turtles in fishing gear – remains a primary threat to the turtles.

“We're trying to help save species, preserve and protect future generations,” Shaver said. “It's hard work. It's long term work.”

Padre Island National Seashore preserves the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island beach in the U.S., and encompasses most of North Padre Island, the most popular nesting ground for the species in the U.S. Since the area is largely wilderness, Shaver said the nests are susceptible to many natural predators including coyotes, skunks, badgers, raccoons, crabs and birds.  

Female Kemp’s ridley turtles nest during the daytime and only take about 20 minutes to lay their eggs in each clutch. While laying their eggs, Shaver said the females enter a trance-like state, which leaves them vulnerable to hazards such as vehicles on the area's heavily-trafficked beaches. Shaver said drivers should be cautious when driving on beaches during nesting season.

“It’s very hard to see these turtles,” Shaver said. “They blend into the sand and the vegetation.”

Kemp's ridley hatchlings make their way to the water at the public release August 9.

Female Kemp’s ridley turtles nest every three to four years, and each nesting female can one to four clutches each season. A clutch – the term for a group of eggs laid at one time – contains anywhere from 40 to 140 eggs, and clutches laid later in the season tend to be smaller in size.

During nesting season, staff and volunteers patrol Texas beaches to ensure the survival of as many of the turtles and hatchlings as possible. Nests are moved to protected areas to ensure the eggs are protected from vehicle traffic and predation. The eggs take about six weeks to hatch, and whenever conditions allow, the hatchling releases are open to the public. 

Once the eggs have hatched, a lot of precautions are taken to ensure the hatchlings safely make it to their new home. Onlookers are kept behind barriers and advised not to wear white, which may confuse the young turtles who rely on the moon or sun reflecting on water and the foam to lead them to the ocean. Volunteers and staff hoist netted canopies attached to PVC piping above the hatchlings to protect them from gulls circling overhead, while others stand as “guards” equipped with small fishing nets to ward off crabs. 

Though only a small portion of turtles hatched at the park are released at the public releases, the events are a critical part of the program’s public outreach efforts. 

Volunteers and staff prepare for the release of Kemp's ridley turtle hatchlings at Padre Island National Seashore.

During last week’s release, you could feel the crowd investing in the turtles’ journeys – people cheered every time another tiny hatchling got swept up by the waves. During the nearly hour-long period it took for the hatchlings to make it 100 feet from the safety of the coolers to the ocean’s edge, Staff circled around with small turtles in hand to allow people to see the hatchlings up close and answer questions about the species and program.

“In Texas, we share our beaches, and our waters – the turtles and the public,” Shaver said. “We’re depending on them [the public] to be good stewards, because we can't be everywhere all at once.”

Anastasia Goodwin is a graphics reporter for the Houston Chronicle's data visualization team.

“It’s serious,” Payne said Saturday afternoon. "People are dying. People have died. We just want ... the environmental injustice to stop in our community."