Indigenous Community In Sonora Releases Record Number Of Sea Turtles This Year

[Judi Lynn]

Indigenous Community In Sonora Releases Record Number Of Sea Turtles This Year
By Kendal Blust
Published: Tuesday, October 27, 2020 - 4:35pm



Mayra Estrella Astorga
Olive Ridley sea turtle hatchlings make their way back to the Sea of Cortez from the shores of the El Desemboque in Sonora, Mexico.


This year, an Indigenous conservation group in Sonora released a record number of sea turtle hatchlings in its community on the Sea of Cortez. And it’s probably a result of the pandemic.

The group Tortugueros del Desemboque has released more than 2,250 Olive Ridley sea turtle hatchlings on the Mancha Blanca beach in the tiny seaside town El Desemboque — one of two Comcaac communities in Sonora.

In a normal year, the group might release 1,000 hatchlings, if they're lucky, said turtle conservation group coordinator Mayra Estrella Astorga, adding that in the coming weeks even more turtles may still hatch and make their way back to the sea.

"You could say this has been the worst year of my life, and in another way the best," said Astorga, who was sick with the coronavirus when the first sea turtles started making their way ashore early this summer to lay their eggs.

More:
https://fronterasdesk.org/content/1630564/indigenous-community-sonora-releases-record-number-sea-turtles-year



Also posted in Environment and energy:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127141106

[Bobstandard]

1. Those turtles face incredible odds

I once sat in a thatch roofed restaurant in Puerto Escondido, Mexico having a beer with my breakfast because I was hungover. The local at the next table and I got to talking. He told me that sea turtle eggs were the best possible cure for a hangover, and he offered to buy me a plate of them. He gestured with his fork to what he was having. Sure enough, a half dozen little eggs riding on salsa and frijoles. I was that hung over that I was nauseated, so I declined. A few moments later a stake sided truck loaded with six or 8 live turtles pulled up outside. The driver got out and came over to talk to my new pal. Turns, the proprietor of the resto later told me, the guy was in charge of turtle conservation for the region and had a deal selling the illegally caught turtles to restaurants in Oaxaca. It wasn’t my first taste of official corruption in Mexico (or anywhere else), but it was among the worst close-up-and-personal examples that I have ever witnessed.