"Sea turtle hatchlings found on Chandeleur Islands for first time in at least 75 years".
"Sea turtle hatchlings have been spotted for the first time in at least 75 years on Louisiana’s Chandeleur Islands, state officials announced Wednesday, and the hatchlings turned out to be young versions of Kemp's ridley turtles, the most endangered of five species found in the Gulf of Mexico.
The July 29 discovery followed several months of flyovers of the rapidly eroding northern end of the island chain, which is all that remains of an ancient Mississippi River delta east of New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish in Chandeleur and Breton sounds.
The research is the first step in an effort to both expand the only marine seagrass meadows in Louisiana, which dot the water on the western side of the northernmost segment of the Chandeleurs, and to possibly expand the sandy islands itself. The Chandeleurs part of the chain has shrunk from 12,000 acres to only 1,000 acres from the 1880s to present, largely as the result of repeat erosions, including major damage during Hurricane Georges in 1998 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005."
Roshaun Higgins and Mark Schleifstein report for the New Orleans Times-Picayune August 17, 2022.
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