Arribadas, Sea Turtles Synchronised Nesting Disturbed With Tourists

In 1947 the first images of a Kemp’s ridley arribada were captured on film by Andres Herrera, a young Mexican engineer. It was estimated by some who have viewed the black and white footage that there were over 40,000 nesting Kemp’s ridley sea turtles on the beach that day. Unfortunately for the Kemp’s ridley this footage was put away and forgotten for over a decade. At that time the scientific community only knew of the Kemp’s ridley arribadas from rumors. It wasn’t until 1960 that Dr Henry Hildebrand from the University of Corpus Christi viewed the film and then in 1961 presented that film at the annual meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. As you can imagine this film was an incredible discovery. Two years later Dr. Hildebrand visited Rancho Nuevo, the site of the mass Kemp’s arribadas. When he arrived in Rancho Nuevo the massive arribadas captured in Herrera’s film were no more. The ridley nesting population had dwindled down to only 2,000 nesting Kemp's. By the early 1980’s, due to the continued illegal harvest of both females and their eggs, the Kemp’s ridley was on the verge of extinction. The remaining nesting ridley population had reached an all time low, only 300 nesting females. In 1986, a joint bi-national recovery program by the governments of Mexico and the United States was created to save the Kemp’s ridley in the Gulf of Mexico.
Thanks to continued efforts by many caring individuals, the population of Kemp’s ridley in the Gulf of Mexico is on the rise. As of 2006 12,000 Kemp’s nests have been protected along the Mexican coast and 100 recorded nests along the Texas coast.