A Chance to Help Save Sea Turtles From Extinction at Mexico Island

Distant lightning slashed the ebony sky, illuminating the small circle of people standing on the shore. They watched, mesmerized (no one would leave for the next three hours), as spraying sand pulsed from a widening depression in the beach.

An immense female green sea turtle (imagine a short-legged card table weighing 250 pounds) was using her paddle-like limbs to dig a nest in the sand, where she would soon begin to lay 126 leathery, Ping-Pong-ball-sized eggs.

Isla Cozumel, the largest island in Mexico, just off the state of Quintana Roo in the Yucatan Peninsula, is one of the few locales in the world to which, between May and September, giant sea turtles travel thousands of miles from distant points in the Pacific and Caribbean to lay their eggs on the beaches where they began life.

Eight species of sea turtles, some living close to 100 years, have been plying the seas around Mexico for thousands of years. Sad to say, the prospect of them surviving another thousand, or even beyond the next century, is growing slim. According to marine biologists, they are preyed upon by a laundry list of natural predators, and are being systematically destroyed by human beings.

If anyone can reverse the trend, it will be people such as the visitors and local volunteers standing on the beach this August night in 1990.

The gentle turtles (and their eggs) have many predators; some are jungle animals with such a sharp sense of smell that they can locate eggs the turtles bury under three feet of sand; another enemy is a tiny crab that burrows under the sand and into the egg. And even after hatching (at three inches long), the baby turtles are immediately threatened by sea birds and crabs.

If they hatch late in the morning and don’t reach the sea before daylight, they are left stranded and helpless on the sand, open to attack. Many never make it to the sea but, once there, they are at risk for at least three years from sharks and other large fish. Even as adults, marine turtles are attacked by sharks.

However, by far the most treacherous predator is man. Turtles have been considered a delicacy for centuries. The Maya who lived in coastal areas of the Yucatan would capture a turtle, make use of every speck of meat (drying it in the sun), save quantities of thick yellow/green fat and relish hundreds of undeveloped eggs. They always found a use for the large durable shell. The reptiles provided a tasty dietary protein, and small human populations and primitive equipment ensured a healthy balance between the turtles and man.

But today, unscrupulous fishermen illegally harvest them by the hundreds during the nesting season, selling the meat to canneries, most of which are located outside of Mexico. A few still kill for the shell to make souvenirs, others for the ingredients for skin cream; both are sold to tourists who continue to buy the contraband products. Some Mexicans cling to ancient beliefs that the eggs are aphrodisiacs--they raid nests and sell the eggs on the black market.

Though Mexico’s President Carlos Salinas de Gortari in 1989 made it illegal to kill the turtles, there is no budget to pay for preservation and protection. Thus everyone working with the turtles today does it for reasons other than money. That’s where tourists come in.

In 1989, the Museo de la Isla de Cozumel designed a program that has been successful in involving both Cozumel islanders and tourists in an organized effort to protect the turtles during the egg-laying season, to safeguard the eggs and give the hatchlings a fighting chance. The program is growing rapidly thanks to volunteers who take different nights to patrol the beaches, watch for the turtles to come ashore, then guard, study and tag them.

Sometimes they spend the entire night digging up clutches of eggs as they are laid, transferring them to a fenced-in portion of the beach where each nest is marked, dated and watched. This is the program’s Fidecaribe Hatchery, housed in an old half-built hotel, where volunteers bring the turtle eggs to be reburied and watched while they incubate.

Ecology-minded visitors are invited to take part by contacting museum director Rosalinda Jinich several days in advance of the weekend in which they wish to participate. Reservations require a $10 donation per person. Groups this summer will be limited to 10 participants, with three or four groups going out each night, according to a museum spokesman, who cautions that island officials strongly discourage individuals from going to the beaches at night on their own.

Once they have reservations, visitors meet Fridays and Saturdays at about 9 p.m. at the museum, a peach-colored building that faces the sea in downtown Cozumel. Well-equipped for such a small town, the museum has five exhibit halls, a library, auditorium, restaurant, cafeteria and gift/book shop. It not only sponsors such activities as the turtle program, but is an active hub catering to the interests of both islanders and visitors.

There, late in the evening, visitors are shown a short slide show and given information about the turtles before leaving for the other, windward side of the island, where the turtles come ashore. Transportation is provided by bus or truck, and those in rental cars may caravan with the museum bus. They join other volunteers at the beaches of Chen Rio, Punta Morena, Punta Chiqueros and Mescalitos, where they may simply observe or take part in program duties.

Groups can expect to see female turtles coming out of the sea onto the beach, some nights as few as one or two, some as many as 20 or 30--still a far cry from the hundreds as recently as 10 years ago. Each female lays eggs two to five times during the season (and is measured and marked each time).

Once she has returned to the sea, her eggs are dug up, along with the sand surrounding them, and taken to the Fidecaribe Hatchery, where they are reburied in a hole duplicating the depth of the nest where they were laid.

Fifty to 60 days later with the help of their “egg-tooth,” the tiny hatchlings leave their sandy incubator, almost always at night (nature’s plan to foil predators). If the wire fence at the hatchery didn’t encircle them, they would head straight for the sea, where many would be snatched by prowling crabs, night birds and other nocturnal animals.

Instead, volunteers at the hatchery help gather the babies into plastic buckets, then watch as they are counted and tagged (300 the night we took part). Those who wish may release them into the sea--all under the watchful eye of Jose Luis Miranda, the marine biologist in charge of the program. Each night, they are released from a slightly different beach to avoid offshore predators. It’s heartwarming for both adults and children to watch the little reptiles launching themselves from shore into the warm waters of the Caribbean.

Each female turtle that survives for the next 10 years (biologists say only one out of a thousand do) will return to this same island shore and begin laying her own eggs.

With added volunteers, the number of eggs and hatchlings that survive is increasing. In 1989, the first year of the turtle program at the museum, 3,500 turtles were released. Last year, 50,000 hatchlings, a combination of green turtles and Loggerheads, were released.

Martha Suarez, a scientist from Florida who volunteers with the program, came to Cozumel to do a mammal survey under the auspices of the New York Biological Society, and while here fell wildly in love with the turtles and their cause. While her expertise is uncommon, her feelings apparently are not, as the program is becoming an attraction for tourists to Cozumel. Suarez explains that the most touching part is the segment aimed at children.

Each week, along with the tourists, a group of local children is taken to see how nature operates on their own island, a first for all of them. They are allowed to hold, name and release a baby turtle. Suarez says that the idea is to bring the reality of the creature home to the child, so perhaps as adults they will be more interested in protecting than eating them.

“It is working in ways we never dreamed,” Suarez said. “The enthusiastic child goes home and tells his father, maybe a local waiter or taxi driver, who has never seen a live turtle--his experience was limited to the turtle in the stew that his mother served for supper when he was a youngster. Next thing you know the child is back again with papa and mama, aunts and uncles and cousins. Like a spreading wave the town is involved . . . and suddenly with extra hands we have 75,000 eggs waiting to hatch!”

Island officials reiterate that those interested in seeing the turtles should go through the museum program because the Mexican Navy patrols this windward, isolated side of the island on the lookout for drug traffickers at sea, and egg poachers and turtle thieves on land. Isolated individuals seen here at night are suspect and urged to be on their way.

Cozumel has long been a popular Mexican destination. It is now one of the few places in the world where visitors and volunteers have the opportunity to make a positive impact on the future of the marine turtle.

GUIDEBOOK

Where to Stay and Eat in Cozumel

Getting there: Mexicana Airlines has a direct weekend flight from Los Angeles to Cozumel for $436 round trip, with seven-day advance purchase; flights during the week are slightly less. Aeromexico flies to Cancun for $415 round trip, after which one must get a connecting flight to Cozumel on Aerocozumel. Travelers must have a valid passport, certified birth certificate or voter’s registration to enter Mexico.

Turtle program: For more information, contact Rosalinda Jinich at the Museo de la Isla de Cozumel, on Melgar Avenue, three blocks north of the downtown pier. Telephone 011-52-987-21545. The museum charges a small admission and is open daily; guided tours in Spanish and English are available.

Where to stay: There are a variety of accommodations to fit every budget.

La Ceiba Hotel is a favorite spot for divers, about a mile south of town with a dive dock and scuba diving offshore. Price: $92 double per night. Call (800) 777-5873.

Casa del Mar Hotel, just across the street from the La Ceiba, has unpretentious rooms with a great outdoor dining room. $80 double per night. (800) 777-5873.

Plaza Las Glorias is on the beach, with air-conditioned rooms and a spacious outdoor recreation area. $110 double per night. (800) 342-2644.

Stouffer Presidente Cozumel has a great location on a spacious beach with good snorkeling just offshore. $127 double per night. (800) 468-3571.

El Cozumeleno Hotel sits on a wide shore at the north zone, and has modern rooms, white beach, good food. $115 double per night. 011-52-987-20050.

For the budget-minded or the diver, check out the Safari Inn--air-conditioned, simple, downtown. $45 double per night. 011-52-987-20101 or 800-854-9334.

Prefer a condo? Try the Condumel north of town, with kitchens and daily maid service. $90. 011-52-987-20892.

For a more complete list, contact the Cozumel Hotel/Motel Assn. The American representative is Jeanne Westphal. Call (305) 866-7998.

Where to eat: For Italian food in a new restaurant, try Donatella Ristorante, 131 Melgar Ave., downtown.

Las Gaviotas at the Sol Cabanas del Caribe Hotel sits on the edge of the sea with a great view. The Fajitas Factory, near Casa del Mar Hotel, serves fajitas in a shady outdoor patio.

For more information: Contact the Mexican Government Tourism Office, 10100 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 224, Los Angeles 90067, (213) 203-8191..