3 sea turtle crushed in SPI dredging project

Three sea turtles were found crushed Saturday at South Padre Island as a result of the dredging process currently taking place along the Island’s shore, a biologist at Padre Island National Seashore said.

Cynthia Rubio, a biologist at Padre Island and the Texas Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network, said such incidents are rare. She said she received word of the incident from workers at Sea Turtle Inc., a nonprofit wildlife group on South Padre Island.

Rubio explained that animals can sometimes get caught up in the dredging process and become crushed inside the pipes used to pump sand along the shore.

All sea turtles are considered an endangered species.

Workers started dredging the Brownsville Ship Channel last month, pumping sand from the channel to replenish South Padre beaches. A long rusty pipe can still be seen spanning the Island’s Gulf shore.

A person who answered the phone at Sea Turtle, Inc. confirmed that three crushed turtles were found and taken to the organization’s coastal studies lab Saturday.

Rubio said wildlife officials are notified whenever there is a dredge scheduled. Wildlife officials then use a method to scare away animals from the target sites so they don’t get sucked up in the process.

"We rarely get reports of this," Rubio said. "This is very unusual."

The city of South Padre Island issued a statement on its Web site when the dredging began, warning beachgoers to use caution around the large piping along the shore.