Friends of Padre: News

via Dr. Donna Shaver Yesterday (25 February 2015), two live cold stunned green turtles were located in Texas, both in the Upper Laguna Madre. So far during the 2014-2015 cold stunning season (which began on 13 November 2014), the following cold stunned sea turtles have been found in Texas: Area Total Galveston Area/ Inshore 63 Lavaca/San Antonio Bay 35 Port O’Connor 1 Copano Bay 7 San Jose Island 2 Mustang Island/Aransas Pass 52 Upper Laguna Madre/Corpus Christi Bay 430 Padre Island National Seashore Gulf Beach 3 Lower Laguna Madre 115 TOTAL 708 Condition Total Alive 524 Dead 184 TOTAL 708 All were green turtles except for two loggerheads, one Kemp’s ridley, and one hawksbill turtle. Thank you to staff and volunteers from the National Park Service, ARK, Sea Turtle, Inc., Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Sea World San Antonio, NOAA-Fisheries, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas Sea Life Center, Texas General Land Office, Texas Master Naturalists, University of Texas, Gladys Porter Zoo, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas State Aquarium, other organizations, and private citizens for their help to find, document, rehabilitate, and release cold stunned turtles on the Texas coast this year. Data presented here are preliminary. Do not cite or quote without permission. Contact Donna Shaver, Texas Coordinator of the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network, for further information.

It was a beautiful day for a parade on the beach. The parade is put on every year by the Padre Island Business Association and benefited the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. A good time was had by all. The Friends of Padre Crew was there to pass out stickers and word of the 20th Annual Billy Sandifer Biog Shell Cleanup coming up on February 28th.

Join the Friends of Padre and the Padre Island National Seashore from 9 until Noon this Saturday! Click Here for the Coastal Bend Cleanup Locations for Saturday

Friends of Padre recently adopted the stretch of highway between Commodores and White Cap on Padre Island  

(Corpus Christi, Texas)- Due to a rapid drop in temperatures over the last few weeks many green sea turtles were rescued and rehabilitated by several agencies with much help from volunteers. It is now time to return these sea turtles into the Gulf of Mexico. Members of the public are invited to come watch the release of cold stunned green turtles at 2:00 pm on Wednesday January 28. The release will be held in front of the Visitor Center at Padre Island National Seashore (on North Padre Island), and will be open to the public free-of-charge. Currently, favorable weather conditions are predicted. If the forecast changes and we experience cold temperatures later this week, we may need to postpone the release. We encourage you to periodically check our Facebook pages; https://www.facebook.com/nps.pais.seaturtles or https://www.facebook.com/nps.pais. You can also find out more by calling our recorded Hatchling Hotline (361-949-7163) for the latest information on the release. To attend, follow park road 22 out to Padre Island National Seashore, located on North Padre Island. Drive approximately two miles past the entrance station to the Malaquite Visitor Center and park there. Walk through the visitor center complex to the boardwalk and proceed down to the beach, this is where the release will be conducted. 2015

Via Dr. Donna Shaver (17 January 2015), 14 cold stunned green turtles were found on the Texas coast. Only three of the 14 were found alive and most of the dead turtles were found in a remote area that we had not been able to search until yesterday. So far during the 2014-2015 cold stunning season (which began on 13 November 2014), the following cold stunned sea turtles have been found in Texas: Area Total Galveston Area/ Inshore 68 Lavaca/San Antonio Bay 35 Port O’Connor 1 Copano Bay 7 San Jose Island 2 Mustang Island/Aransas Pass 45 Upper Laguna Madre/Corpus Christi Bay 407 Padre Island National Seashore Gulf Beach 3 Lower Laguna Madre 110 TOTAL 678 Condition Total Alive 503 Dead 175 TOTAL 678 All were green turtles except for two loggerheads, one Kemp’s ridley, and one hawksbill turtle.

Via Dr. Donna Shaver Today (14 January 2015), 17 cold stunned green turtles were found on the Texas coast. Yesterday, 31 cold stunned sea turtles were located in Texas. Most continue to be found in the Texas Coastal Bend. So far during the 2014-2015 cold stunning season (from 13 November 2014 through 14 January 2015), 461 cold stunned sea turtles have been found in Texas, including the following: All were green turtles except for two loggerheads, one Kemp’s ridley, and one hawksbill turtle. Area Total Galveston Area/ Inshore 19 Lavaca/San Antonio Bay 35 Copano Bay 7 San Jose Island 2 Mustang Island/Aransas Pass 43 Upper Laguna Madre/Corpus Christi Bay 248 Padre Island National Seashore Gulf Beach 3 Lower Laguna Madre 104 Boca Chica Beach 0 TOTAL 461 Condition Total Alive 380 Dead 81 TOTAL 461

Via Dr. Donna Shaver Today (12 January 2015), 21 cold stunned green turtles were found on the Texas coast. Yesterday, 98 cold stunned sea turtles were located in Texas. So far during the 2014-2015 cold stunning season (from 13 November 2014 through 12 January 2015), 408 cold stunned sea turtles have been found in Texas, including the following: All were green turtles except for two loggerheads, one Kemp’s ridley, and one hawksbill turtle. Area Total Galveston Area/ Inshore 19 Lavaca/San Antonio Bay 35 Copano Bay 6 San Jose Island 2 Mustang Island/Aransas Pass 40 Upper Laguna Madre/Corpus Christi Bay 205 Padre Island National Seashore Gulf Beach 3 Lower Laguna Madre 98 Boca Chica Beach 0 TOTAL 408 Condition Total Alive 345 Dead 63 TOTAL 408 Thank you to staff and volunteers from the National Park Service, ARK, Sea Turtle, Inc., Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Sea World San Antonio, NOAA-Fisheries, Texas Sea Life Center, Texas Master Naturalists, Gladys Porter Zoo, University of Texas, Texas State Aquarium, other organizations, and private citizens for their help to find, document, rehabilitate, and release cold stunned turtles on the Texas coast this year.