Good news for Kemp's ridley sea turtles in Texas

From the Web site of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project:

The Kemp's ridley sea turtle, almost extinct in the 80s, is slowly recovering from years of poaching in Mexico prior to 1978 and drowning in shrimp trawls in US waters before the Turtle Excluder Device was required by federal law.

So far this year, 128 Kemp's ridley nests have been confirmed on the Texas coast including (north to south in state): Bolivar Peninsula 1, Galveston Island 6, Surfside Beach 2, Bryan Beach 1, Matagorda Peninsula 4, Matagorda Island 8, Mustang Island 4, North Padre Island 81 including 73 at the Padre Island National Seashore, South Padre Island 18, Boca Chica Beach 3.

The 128 is the most Kemp's ridley nests that have been confirmed on the Texas coast since record keeping began in the 1980's. Many area records have also been broken.