Marine Turtle Newsletter 7:1-2, © 1978
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Marine Turtle Newsletter 7:1-2, © 1978
With this issue of the newsletter we enclose a copy of an article "The Shame of Escobilla" by Tim Cahill from Outside Magazine. This will be a matter of concern to everyone engaged in turtle conservation.
Mexico is an important country in world-wide efforts to preserve sea turtles, both because of the large numbers nesting there, and because it has the only significant nesting site for the Atlantic ridley, Lepidochelys kempi. Many recipients of this newsletter have already written to Dr. Jorge Carranza F. (Director, Instituto Nacional de Pesca, Chiapas 121, Mexico D.F., Mexico) expressing their concern about the Atlantic ridley. We have already described the new regulations that have been promulgated (Marine Turtle Newsletter No. 5, 1977). We now report that further action is to be undertaken jointly by the Instituto Nacional de Pesca in Mexico, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Department of the Interior, U.S.A., in whose waters this species feeds. These plans include moving 2000 eggs to Padre Island, Texas, in an attempt to establish a nesting colony there. Immediately after being collected these eggs will be placed in sand that has been shipped from Padre Island to Rancho Nuevo. They will then be sent, still buried in this sand, to Padre Island. This is a precaution against possible chemical imprinting ,that might occur if the eggs were to incubate in Rancho Nuevo sand. Another 2000 eggs will be put in Rancho Nuevo soil and kept there. Hatchlings from both batches will be allowed to crawl down to the water and into the surf but will then be recaptured, possibly using helicopters, and sent to the Marine Fisheries Service facilities at Galveston, Texas, for headstarting. It is hoped that this headstarting will compensate for the 2000 eggs removed to Padre Island. Measures less fraught with unknowns will include intensified beach patrols protecting turtles reproducing in their natural way at Rancho Nuevo. Whether these actions will be sufficient to save the Atlantic ridley remains to be seen. According to recent information, in 1977 only between 400 and 500 females came ashore, a decline of some 700 from the previous year. But it is elating to know that intensive efforts are now being made.
It is also impossible not to reflect that had Rancho Nuevo been properly managed from the start, the huge arribadas of Atlantic ridleys (about 40,000 in 1947) might still be coming ashore today. It is in this context that the reports of massive slaughter of turtles on the west coast of Mexico are so disconcerting. Is there some overall policy for turtle resources in Mexico? Are the authorities in control of what is going on? What is the logic behind intensive efforts to save turtles on the Atlantic coast while allowing large numbers to be slaughtered on the Pacific coast?
One problem in evaluating these matters is that management policies for marine turtles are in a rudimentary state. How many turtles can safely be cropped from a population? There is plenty of room for debate. But whether or not there is agreement about the attached article, we would like to thank Outside Magazine for permission to reprint it, and for helping make the public aware of the problems and potentials in the conservation of marine turtles. Because of the controversial nature of these matters we also asked Dr. P.C.H. Pritchard, who also visited Escobilla recently, to give us his views on the situation there (see COMMENT, below).
FinaIly, we do not apologize for devoting so much attention to one country. What happens in Mexico is, as we said, of great importance in the conservation of marine turtles. But we would most assuredly welcome more informed opinions on critical problems in other areas.