Programme for the conservation of marine turtles in the Yucatan Peninsula.

At present the marine turtles are considered a threatened species and critically in danger of extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as a result of the interaction of various factors: excessive fishing, illicit trade, pillaging of nests, capture and slaughter of females, habitat modification and degradation and incidental capture of adults and juveniles.
There are seven species of marine turtles in the world, six of them are found in Mexican waters, four of which can be encountered in the Yucatan Peninsula: the hawksbill, the green, the loggerhead and the leatherback sea turtles. In this context Mexico plays an important role in the conservation of these reptiles. Apart from being a favourable area for nesting, the coast of the Peninsula also provides suitable feeding sites for adults and juveniles.
In 14 years of continuous work by Pronatura Peninsula de Yucatan in Celestun, El Cuyo and Isla Holbox beaches the hawksbill turtle´s numbers show a slow upward tendency that nevertheless doesn´t reach to recover absolutely, and inlcuding in some beaches diminishes.

Objectives:

Document the fluctuations and condition of the marine turtle populations that nest in the beaches of Celestun, El Cuyo and Isla Holbox.
Assure the success of the nesting by patrolling the beach and nesting area.
Awareness raising in the local communities regarding the value of natural resources and the importance of conserving the environment.
Create and implement a strategy of promoting the marine turtle conservation programme.
Continuously gather information within the programme, directing research towards the detected needs.
Apply the information in the evaluation of handbooks, ordenating and decision making processes.

Results:

Continuity was achieved for a fourteenth year of the Programme for the conservation of marine turtles.
During 14 years 80 kilometers of beach has been monitored in the Yucatan Peninsula (Celestun, El Cuyo and Isla Holbox) and 12,302 nests of hawksbill turtles and 2,530 of green turtles have been registered with an 80% survival rate among de hatchlings. Furthermore 894,844 hawksbill hatchlings and 130,350 green turtle hatchlings were liberated.
As part of the efforts to promote better knowledge and appropriate valuation of the natural resources the project has included environmental education activities like talks, workshops, puppet shows, drawing contests in which 500 children of the three communities bordering the nesting beaches participated. In the last 6 years, the number of nests per kilometre was calculated with updated maps. There was also participation in various meetings with members of the Comité del Programa de Tortuga Marina en Campeche and part of the gasoline for various camps was supplied.
The work team participated in forums at regional, state-wide, national and international level about programmes and research regarding marine turtles and their conservation.

Expectations

Consolidate alliances with investigation centres for the analysis of the database.
Evaluate the effort of more than a decade of marine turtle research.
Advances in the recovery of marine turtle populations.
Promote community participation through productive projects that are compatible with wildlife management, for example ecotourism.

The growing threats like deforestation of the coastal dune, pollution, and badly planned tourism development growth cause that the marine turtle population remains vulnerable. The results achieved are encouraging, but the challenges are still great to accomplish total recovery of this threatened species.