Sea Turtles in Baja Info

Sea Turtles have lived on this earth an estimated 150 million years. There are seven species of these charismatic reptiles in the world, five of which live long periods of their lives foraging and nesting on the coasts off Baja California. These turtles migrate from as far away as Japan, the south of Mexico and Hawaii.

In every part of the world, sea turtles are considered threatened or endangered. Sea turtles are included on protection lists such as CITES, the IUCN's red list, the Interamerican Convention, and the United Status list of Endangered Species. International regulations have been established that prohibit capturing, killing or selling of sea turtles, and the federal laws of Mexico prohibit their killing throughout all parts of the country. Additionally, due to the large amount of turtles that are captured in the nets of shrimp and fishing boats, laws have been established in the U.S. and Mexico requiring that all trawling vessels use TEDs (Turtle Exclusionary Devices), which allow turtles to escape the nets.

Although they are protected, sea turtles need our help! They are regularly captured and sacrificed for the consumption of their meat and eggs. Sea turtles mature very slowly and live very long lives. They need to reach 20 to 30 years of age before they are sexually mature and able to reproduce, and most sea turtles return to the beaches where they were born to lay their eggs.

Coastal Development: Modification and the loss of coastal habitat that previously served as nesting areas is a threat to sea turtles. The lights from buildings along the coast can disorient the turtles that come to shore to lay their eggs, and many historical nesting sites have been destroyed completely. Sea turtles often return to the beach on which they were born to lay their eggs. If there is no longer a beach, or the beach is too developed, the turtle may not lay her eggs.

Ocean Pollution: Sea turtles can choke to death when they accidentally consume plastic bags and other types of trash. The turtles often mistake the bags and trash for jelly fish, a normal part of the diets of various sea turtle species. Additionally, other contaminants and chemicals that enter the ocean from our coasts and ships affect the health of turtles.

The coast along the Baja California peninsula and the Sea of Cortez is home to five of the seven species of the world's sea turtles. Local Sea Turtles nesting sites along Todos Santos coast line are mostly:

Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea, Tortuga Golfina)
The Olive Ridley is the most abundant of all of the species of sea turtle. They use the beaches in the south of the Baja California peninsula and Todos Santos and the state of Sinaloa (Mainland) for reproduction. They frequent the bays, estuaries and pelagic zones of the region for feeding.

The Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea, Tortuga Laúd)
The leatherback turtle is the largest of all the species of sea turtles and can be found throughout the world's oceans. Population data for these turtles indicate that they are confronting a grave problem of global extinction. Every few years they lay eggs they come to the beaches of Las Tunas.

The Mexican agency in charge of protecting turtles is PROFEPA; you can also send information on illegal activities to the regional office of PROFEPA. Toll free number in Mexico: 01.800.687.8477 Toll free number in the U.S.: 1.866.SEA.TIPS

Information above gathered from the sites below about our local turtle population.

Links for further information:
http://www.todostortugueros.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiR0RAGdvPQ
http://www.lasirenakayaksurf.com/id4.html
http://www.elcalendariodetodossantos.com/2009March/el-calendario-todos-santos-page_41.html
http://www.causes.com/causes/320821
http://www.propeninsula.org
http://www.grupotortuguero.org