Marine Turtle Newsletter 49:28, © 1990
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Marine Turtle Newsletter 49:28, © 1990
WhereasMexico has historically supported the highest species richness and abundance of sea turtles in the western hemisphere with seven of the eight species worldwide nesting on its shores; and
Whereas Mexico currently has over 20 sea turtle conservation and research programs; and
Whereas the olive ridley sea turtles of the eastern Pacific Ocean are an international resource that in the course of their lives travel in and out of the sovereign waters of many nations and into international waters; and
Whereas the olive ridley sea turtles are utilized as a sustainable resource for local communities in several nations in Central America through a program which protects the long-lived adults and rationally exploits only eggs; and
Whereas Mexico has allowed hundreds of thousands of adult olive ridleys to be harvested over the last two decades; and
Whereas Mexico is presently allowing the legal slaughter of 20,000 olive ridleys, 99% of which have been identified as gravid females; and
Whereas the present legal slaughter allows a clandestine killing to flourish and increases the total mortality to an estimated 75,000 olive ridleys a year; and
Whereas there has been a call from many Mexican ecological and environmental organizations to immediately end this commercial exploitation;
Therefore, let it be understood that the undersigned participants of the 10th Annual Workshop on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation representing the international sea turtle community from 14 nations support the call by Mexican ecologists and conservationists for an immediate halt to this slaughter. We recognize that the present level of commercial exploitation is not sustainable. This slaughter has significant negative impact on the olive ridley turtles of the eastern Pacific region, the Pacific Ocean ecosystem, and many local communities throughout the eastern Pacific region who are rationally exploiting the eggs of this species in a sustainable manner.
Furthermore, we support the call by the Mexican ecological community that the government of Mexico join with all the other nations of this region and the 105 countries worldwide as a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and that the Mexican government move ahead quickly to provide sustainable economic alternatives for turtle fishermen.
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Editor's note: On 23-24 February 1990 this letter was signed by 189 sea turtle biologists and conservationists from 14 nations; it was forwarded to President Salinas by Earth Island Institute and the Sea Turtle Center. You are encouraged to support the courageous efforts of Mexican ecologists committed to this important issue. Please write a letter expressing your concern over the continuing harvest of olive ridley turtles and eggs, the latter an illegal harvest estimated in the millions annually. Encourage programs designed to provide sustainable economic alternatives to turtle fishermen currently dependent on the harvest. Mail your letter to: President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Palacio Nacional, Mexico D. F. 06066 Mexico. These turtles do not inhabit Mexico alone, but all Central American nations (bordering the Pacific), as well as Colombia, Ecuador and Peru in South America, and the U.S.A. to the north. Their survival is of international import, and to some degree their fate will depend on the collective actions of peoples throughout the world. For more information, please contact: Todd Steiner, Sea Turtle Project Director, Earth Island Inst., 300 Broadway, Suite 28, San Francisco, CA 94133, Tel.: (415)788-3666.