GALVESTON -- A record number of Kemp’s ridley nests have been reported on the coast, Sea Turtle Restoration Project reported.

So far this year, 161 Kemp’s ridley nests have been confirmed on the Texas coast, the most since record keeping began in 1980.

The 161 nest total exceeds the previous record of 128 Kemp’s ridley nests found in Texas set during 2007.

This marks the fifth consecutive year that record numbers of Kemp’s ridley nests have been recorded in Texas.

This endangered sea turtle is a resident of the Gulf of Mexico and was near extinction in the mid-1980s.

This is the 30th anniversary of a cooperative program between the Republic of Mexico and the United States to prevent their extinction.

The U.S. federal requirement to place turtle excluder devices on shrimp trawls to allow sea turtles to escape drowning combined with protection of the beaches in Mexico and the United States and a program of releasing hatchlings are credited with the increased population of ridleys.

Nest sites on Texas Coast

Location, No. of nests

Bolivar Peninsula, 4 Galveston Island, 5 Brazoria County, north of Surfside, 1 Surfside Beach, 2 Matagorda Island, 10 San Jose Island, 3 Mustang Island, 5 North Padre Island, including 77 at Padre Island National Seashore, 87 South Padre Island, 36 Boca Chica Beach, 8

Total, 161