Texas Beach Patrols Document 55% More Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Nests in 2026
Conservation teams documented 697 Kemp’s ridley sea turtle nests on the Texas coast during the 2026 nesting season, up from 449 in 2025. The National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the 55 percent increase on Nov. 9. Trained staff and volunteers found the nests through beach patrols and by following up on public reports.
The increase measures nests found on Texas beaches. It does not show how many individual turtles nested, since a female can lay more than one clutch in a season. The count also does not establish how many hatchlings survived or whether the species’ population is growing across its range. The Kemp’s ridley remains federally endangered, and its primary nesting beach is at Rancho Nuevo, Mexico.
Texas has been part of a joint U.S. and Mexican recovery effort for decades. Starting in 1978, a program moved some eggs from Rancho Nuevo to Padre Island National Seashore. Staff incubated the eggs and released the hatchlings on the Texas beach, then collected and raised them in Galveston until they were large enough to tag and release. The aim was to establish a nesting colony in Texas.
In 1996, researchers documented the first tagged turtles from that effort returning to Padre Island to nest. The agencies say some of the turtles nesting this year descend from animals released through the program.
Why This Matters for Animals
Fishing bycatch, habitat loss and egg collection helped drive the species close to extinction. Establishing a nesting colony in Texas gave the turtles another place to reproduce. The new count shows how much nesting activity teams documented on those beaches this year, while the longer record will help show whether the increase holds.
Beachgoers can help teams find nests that patrols might miss. Federal officials ask people on Texas beaches to drive slowly, stay at least 100 feet from sea turtles and report nesting turtles, nests, tracks or stranded turtles at 1-866-TURTLE-5. The accompanying AI-generated illustration shows a fictional turtle in imagined coastal waters.
Source: National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — November 9 nesting report
