|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Organization | Grupo Ecológico de la Costa Verde |
| website | http://www.project-tortuga.org/ |
| Country | Mexico |
| Program Costs | None |
| Duration | Varies |
| Room & Board | $250 to $320 per month |
| Language Requirements | Basic Spanish |
|
|
|
|
In the spring of 1992 the founding members of the Grupo Ecológico de la Costa
Verde, A.C. (the Group) organized and built the first marine nursery. By June, a
large scale protection of Olive Ridley and Leatherback turtle eggs had begun.
Millions of years before humans arrived in North America, the marine turtle had
well established its nesting habitat along the coastal waters of Mexico. The
oldest inhabitants of San Francisco, Nayarit, or "San Pancho" as it is commonly
called today, can still recall the nights when hundreds of nesting turtles
climbed the moonlit beaches to renew the custom of perpetuating their species.
The palm-laden playas were free of development and offered an idyllic location
for nesting. Occasionally, the coastal pueblos would gather food from the
generous supply of eggs and turtles.
The growing human population, coupled with the changing demographics of the
coastal region in the past one hundred years, has dramatically altered the
habitat, and thus, the reproductive cycle of the turtles. By 1988, pressures
from coastal development, poaching, shrimp fishing, and tourism reduced a
population of thousands of nesting turtles along the San Pancho beaches to less
than 72 nesting turtles per year. |
|
|
|
Copyright 2007 - 2010
WWW.VAOPS.COM
|