“We don’t want to have to tell our children someday that the turtles were here once, but they were all killed.”

—Herlindo Verduzco, Mexican fisherman

Save a Sea Turtle Nesting Beach / Mexico - Victory

For 150 million years, sea turtles have swum the oceans of our planet. They witnessed the coming and going of the dinosaurs as they thrived through the ages on a varied diet of jellyfish, sponges, algae, sea grasses and crustaceans. Seven species of sea turtle still navigate the oceans, traveling thousands of miles between their nesting and feeding habitats. All seven species are now endangered, threatened or vulnerable. Only one in 1,000 turtle hatchlings survives to reproduce.

One of the greatest threats to sea turtle survival is beachfront development, which is converting quiet, isolated turtle nesting beaches into tourist and industrial zones. A Malaysian beach that used to host 1,000 turtles each nesting season now sees only one or two turtles a year because of hotel development.

Now Mexico's three most important nesting beaches for loggerhead and green sea turtles are slated for tourist development. In spite of federal laws and a regional management plan that require turtle protection, the state government of Quintana Roo sold the beaches to hotel developers. Construction is advanced at two of the three sites. The remaining beach, X'cacel (ish-ka-SEL), is now a key to survival for loggerheads and green turtles.

Turtles that nest at X'cacel carry more than 20 percent of the genetic diversity of their species in the Atlantic. Biologist Brian Bowen of the University of Florida describes genetic diversity as the "insurance" that allows species to survive climate changes, pollution and other environmental challenges. Turtles have been successfully protected at X'cacel for the past decade.

"If the X'cacel nesting ground is eliminated," says Bowen, "the loss would be disastrous for loggerheads and greens." Bowen considers the potential destruction of X'cacel "one of the most urgent conservation crises in the world for sea turtles."

To avoid a public outcry, the governor has prohibited construction at X'cacel within the first 100 meters from the sea. Biologist Bowen dismisses this measure as a "band-aid." " Protecting a narrow strip of the beach is just not going to do it," says Bowen.

Research shows that bright lights and human activity on the beach discourage nesting females. Whole nests of up to 200 eggs can be destroyed by fungus if just one egg is pierced by a beach umbrella. Hatchlings, born at night, are attracted to bright lights and head for the hotels instead of the surf; when the sun comes up they dehydrate and die.

In addition to the endangered sea turtles, X'cacel is home to more than 30 other protected species, including boa constrictors, marsh crocodiles, manatees, margays, jaguarundis and mangroves. To protect all these species, more than ten Mexican environmental organizations, led by the Mayab Ecology Group and Greenpeace-Mexico, ask Global Response members to join them in demanding complete and permanent protection for the 311-hectare X'cacel beach.

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