Why the Sea Turtle Protection Program Is Needed
Sea turtles became endangered because of civilization's encroachment on their nesting environments, illegal poaching and fishing mishaps. Adult turtles nest and lay their eggs on land, and the baby sea turtles, after hatching, move to the sea because they're attracted to natural light over the horizon that reflects off the ocean's waves. Unfortunately, only about one out of 1,000 babies survives until adulthood because of predators that include birds, crabs, raccoons, dogs, aquatic predators and other threats that attack the eggs and hatchlings. Even adult sea turtles aren't 100% safe because illegal poachers hunt them for eggs, meat and shells. The baby sea turtles often head toward beach lights, car headlights, fires, streetlights, discarded food and other stimulants of modern civilization. If a turtle heads in the wrong direction, its exposure to predators and threats almost guarantees its death. The Sea Turtle protection program in Los Cabos includes stakeholders from nonprofit organizations, environmentalists, Los Cabos hotels, wildlife groups and other concerned businesses that support monitoring, protecting and releasing sea turtles safely into the ocean where their chances of survival increase dramatically. Although we're not affiliated with the EcoPlan sea turtle protection program, we support its work and methodology. The EcoPlan team graciously granted us access to film this amazing journey that loggerhead, leatherback, olive ridley and black sea turtles make every year, mostly between June and November. Our video was shot in June when the biologists were busy setting up new protected nurseries for the season. Filming the Sea Turtle Protection Program in Cabo San Lucas The head of EcoPlan AC (Planet Ecology and Conservation) is Martin Andrade Almazán who was born in Acapulco but has lived in Cabo San Lucas for 10 years. Almazán helped to organize the conservation program two years before we at Wild Canyon approached him for permission to film the sea turtle protection program in action. We interviewed Almazán, biologist Elizabeth Flores Breton and biologist Lara Cibeles while accompanying them on their rounds to locate sea turtle nests and transport the eggs to protected nurseries where they'll be monitored and protected by …show more content…
Once an ideal incubation spot was found, the experts constructed a pen to keep out predators like crabs that feed on the eggs and young hatchlings. It's necessary to choose a spot well above the high-tide line, and Hurricane Odile actually helped because it showed exactly how high the tide could get after a tropical storm. The area chosen for a nest must also be free of impromptu streams of water and