Date 10/25/2008

The storm erased nesting areas for Kemp's Ridley turtles by washing away dunes and beaches on battered Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island, said Andre M. Landry Jr., director of the Sea Turtle and Fisheries Ecology Research Laboratory at Texas A&M University in Galveston.

The number of Ridley nests on the upper Texas Gulf Coast has risen every year since 2003, reaching 16 last year. But six of the nests were on Bolivar Peninsula, which was nearly wiped clean by Ike.

Nesting season starts in April. Officials hope to have replenished the beaches by then.