Kemp's ridley turtle - Threats

Threats have changed, the problems remain

Various factors caused the decline of this species, including near-total exploitation of eggs, slaughter of adults for meat by local people, and fisheries bycatch during shrimp trawling. Today, fishing nets and gear may be its biggest threat yet.

Nests of the Kemp's ridley are shallow and poorly disguised, making them relatively easy for human and non-human predators to find. Animals such as coyotes, skunks, and racoons predate the nests, and ghost crabs, gulls, and other sea birds prey on the hatchlings. In addition, this species is locally threatened by pollution.

Indirect take
Shrimp fishing may pose a greater threat to Kemp's ridleys than all of the other threats combined. Large numbers of the turtles are caught in the funnel-shaped nets, and many then drown.

The presence of blue crabs, preferred by small Kemp's ridleys, attracts them towards the mouths of large rivers. Before the introduction of Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs), shrimp trawlers were a major source of mortality for this species, with approximately 5,000 Kemp's ridleys killed in shrimp nets in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. This is perhaps ten times greater than the mortality caused by all other fisheries (seines, gill nets, traps, and longlines) combined.

Although there has been a slight increase in the number of nests and eggs on Rancho Nuevo through the 1990s since the introduction of TEDs, shrimp trawling continues to remain the Kemp's ridley's biggest enemy.
Find out more about bycatch

Direct take
Humans still collect turtle eggs, which are thought to have aphrodisiac properties, although the presence of beach patrols has diminished this practice. Twelve nests out of a total of 2,409 were poached in 1998 from the main camp at Rancho Nuevo.

Pollution
Kemp's ridley is also extremely vulnerable to natural (e.g. hurricanes) and human (e.g. oil spills) impacts, and any degradation of Rancho Nuevo will affect the entire breeding population. The juvenile population of the Kemp's Ridley is threatened by pollution in the Gulf of Mexico, around the mouths of the Alabama and Mississippi rivers, important developmental habitats for these animals. Pesticide run-off from agriculture along these rivers has created an area low in oxygen, which is beginning to increase in size.

Hatchlings and sexually mature adults in particular are vulnerable to the large amounts of oil and tar in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of this pollution is simply due to natural leakage, but much comes from oil rigs. The turtles do not appear to be able to detect oil slicks until too late and also ingest tar balls, mistaking them for food.
Find out more about pollution