Texas sea turtles have lost a conservation hero (commentary)

Carole Allen — founder of HEART (Help Endangered Animals Ridley Turtles) and the first director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network’s Gulf of Mexico office — passed away at the age of 90. For decades, she was the voice of the critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii), and one of the central figures responsible for bringing this species back from the brink of extinction.

HEART began as an all-volunteer, grassroots organization dedicated to educating Texas schoolchildren about the mysterious and imperiled Kemp’s ridley. But Carole always insisted that education alone was not enough. People had to be inspired to care and then motivated to act.

That is exactly what she did.

Carole inspired not only children, but teachers, scientists, policymakers, and even fishermen who initially viewed endangered species protections as a threat to their livelihoods. She had an uncanny ability to bring people together and turn concern into action, whether through community projects like hand-sewn, heart-shaped stuffed turtles, or sea turtle cookie cutters that helped spread the message while raising funds for conservation.

But Carole’s warmth was matched by her resolve. She was fearless. She did not back down in the face of intimidation from powerful politicians or threats from angry fishermen. When Kemp’s ridley turtles were being killed, Carole stood her ground.

I first met Carole in 1990 in Mexico City, when we were both invited by the President of Mexico to witness the historic announcement closing the country’s notorious sea turtle slaughterhouse and permanently banning sea turtle harvest. Not long afterward, Carole called to report a grim discovery: hundreds of Kemp’s ridley sea turtles were washing up dead along the Texas coast. She asked whether Turtle Island Restoration Network would help confront rampant noncompliance with Turtle Excluder Device (TED) laws, and regulators who were all too willing to look the other way.

We did.

In the early 2000s, HEART merged with Turtle Island Restoration Network, and Carole became our first Gulf of Mexico Director, later serving as a board member and ultimately as Board Member Emeritus. Together, we filed lawsuits, launched full-page newspaper ads challenging then-governor and presidential candidate George W. Bush to act (one New York Times ad read, “If Governor Bush won’t save the Texas turtle, maybe President Gore will”), and placed billboards across Texas asking a simple question: How many sea turtles get killed for your shrimp?

The results were real. Governor Bush ordered game wardens to enforce TED laws, and Texas implemented a seasonal shrimping ban along 100 miles of critical nesting habitat. Today, TEDs are largely accepted by shrimpers, and far fewer sea turtles are washing ashore dead from cruel suffocation in shrimp nets.

Some of Carole’s accomplishments are documented in Edward Humes’ 2009 book Eco Barons and the 2011 PBS documentary The Heartbreak Turtle. But her true legacy lives on in the countless children and adults she inspired over generations.

Carole will always be remembered as a fierce and tireless advocate for Kemp’s ridley sea turtles — fighting to ensure TED enforcement, raising critical funds for the National Marine Fisheries Service Galveston Laboratory (including support for the Kemp’s ridley “Turtle Barn”), and working with Texas students to secure the Kemp’s ridley’s designation as the official sea turtle of Texas.

She did all of this while raising an extraordinary daughter, who’s now a pediatrician, and delighting in her two grandchildren.

Carole Allen inspired generations of conservationists. The continuing recovery of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is her enduring legacy.

Todd Steiner is the founder of Turtle Island Restoration Network, an ocean advocacy and research NGO with offices in California and Texas. He is an ecologist and serves on the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group.

Banner image: Kemp’s ridley sea turtle builds a nest. Photo courtesy of National Park Service.

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Erik Hoffner Editor

This story first appeared on Mongabay

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