From humble beginnings, Sea Turtle Inc. about ready to expand

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Ila Loetscher introduced countless Americans to sea turtles in an early 1980s appearance on the “The Tonight Show” starring Johnny Carson.

She brought with her a sea turtle wearing a dress. It made for a few laughs and good TV viewing.

But Loetscher had a vision that transcended the comical appeal of sea turtles wearing shorts and button-down shirts.

It was her way of bringing attention to sea turtles and their plight. All eight species of sea turtles are listed as endangered.

Loetscher died Jan. 4, 2000, at age 95, but not before founding Sea Turtle Inc., on South Padre Island, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the survival of sea turtles.

Today, Jeff George carries on Loetscher’s legacy as curator of Sea Turtle Inc.

“I first got involved 15 years ago as a volunteer with Ila,” George said. “Ila loved all my kids and I got hooked.

“Back then, there was no paid staff until 2000 — the year Ila died. The board hired me as curator and we now have two full-time employees, three part-timers and in the summer we hire six part-timers.”

Visitation at Sea Turtle Inc., a small wooden building on Padre Boulevard, now pushes 50,000 people a year.

“Financially, we’ve grown 15 fold,” George said. “Our operating budget is just under $200,000 a year.”

George admits the current building is too small and parking is extremely limited.

That should all change soon. As early as October, Sea Turtle Inc. will break ground on a 3,200-square-foot building that will be attached to the current structure.

“We will have two large aquariums 8 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter with 180 degrees of clear viewing,” George said.

The building is expected to cost about $350,000, he said.

“Most of the money is already in hand through donations and small grants,” he noted. “We’re also trying to write a few more grants.”

George predicts that after the new building opens, attendance will reach 100,000 a year “fairly quickly.”

Protecting turtles

Sea Turtle Inc. is more or less ground zero for the hatch-and-release program for South Padre Island and Boca Chica Beach.

Overseeing that program is Jody Mays of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, coordinator for the South Texas sea turtle project.

She works hand in hand with George, volunteers and interns to find turtle eggs, taking them to a safe place where they can’t be preyed on and, finally, releasing the baby turtles into the Gulf of Mexico, in particular Kemp’s ridley turtles.

As of last week, 20 sea turtle nests had been found, one short of last year’s record. The record for South Padre Island/Boca Chica Beach was 18 nests (other nests have been found north of the Mansfield cut).

But Mays is hesitant to call the project a triumph of conservation — at least for now.

“We can call the program a success when the Kemp’s ridley is delisted,” she said, meaning the turtle will be taken off the federal endangered or threatened list. “That’s a long time off.

“Down listed to threatened is definitely a reachable goal,” she said. “Hopefully, that will happen within the next 10 years.”

According to the recovery plan, the population must reach 10,000 nesting females in the United States and Mexico before the Kemp’s ridley can be delisted. Currently, the estimate for nesting females is about 5,000.

Turtle faced extinction

One day in 1947, Andres Herrera, a Mexican engineer, filmed an estimated 40,000 nesting Kemp’s ridley sea turtles on a beach at Rancho Nuevo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

By 1985, the nesting population was down to 300 females. It was clearly a turtle in trouble.

But as conservation efforts kicked in, the turtle population began to rebound.

For starters, Mexico began to protect nesting sea turtles and their eggs, even to the point of using Marines to guard the Rancho Nuevo nesting beach.

A major victory for turtle conservation came in 1987 when the United States implemented a law requiring U.S. shrimpers to use turtle excluder devices, or TEDs.

The device is a metal grid of bars attached to a shrimp trawling net with an opening at either the top or bottom creating a hatch allowing larger animals, such as sea turtles, to escape while keeping the shrimp inside.

Two years later, the shrimp-turtle law was passed. It mandates all countries exporting shrimp to U.S. markets must use TEDs.

“That has helped speed the rate of recovery,” noted Donna Shaver, chief of division of sea turtle science and recovery at Padre Island National Seashore.

Shaver, who has worked with the sea turtle program since 1986, credited other measures for helping save the turtles, such as public cooperation in reporting nesting or hatching turtles.

“Beach goers find up to half the nests,” she said.

Kemp’s ridley profile

For the most part, Kemp’s ridleys are Gulf of Mexico turtles and the world’s rarest.

They are also the smallest, with adults weighing about 100 pounds or less.

They primarily eat crabs, clams, mussels and shrimp, but will also eat fish, sea urchins, squid and jellyfish.

Their chief predators at sea are fish, including sharks, and gulls for the younger turtles.

Females can nest at about 10 years old and lay two to three clutches per year. Females nest every other year.

The mortality rate is high, noted Shaver. “Only one in 300 survive to adulthood.”

It’s not certain how long Kemp’s ridleys can live, but estimates range up to 80 years.

Other sea turtles found in Gulf of Mexico waters include loggerhead and green sea turtles.