PLAYA LA ESCOBILLA, Mexico (Reuters) – Mexico’s beautiful Playa La Escobilla was crawling with nesting marine turtles this weekend as they emerge from the sea to lay their eggs on the sandy beaches in their annual migration during the months of August and September.
Members of the Olive Ridley Turtle Sanctuary Cooperative on La Escobilla beach, in the town of Santa Maria Tonameca, battle for turtle conservation in the Pacific Ocean to protect populations that have been hunted to the brink of extinction.
Although 150,000 to 200,000 turtles are expected to lay as many as 15 million eggs, the species is still vulnerable because only 10 percent of the 15 million eggs will hatch in 45 days while many are hunted.
Conservation efforts have included educating local fishermen who traditionally hunted turtles prized for turtle soup and their meat.
The 15 kilometers of protected shoreline along Mexico’s Oaxaca Pacific coast contain 12 beaches where olive ridley turtles nest around the world, according to the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP).
The most important one is this one, due to the number of nestings. This beach sees between seven and eight arrivals per year of nesting marine turtles.
