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Gypsy Jan
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[*] posted on 7-6-2012 at 08:49 PM
Take a turtle-saving eco-vacation

"Admit it. Just admit it.

Your favorite character from "Finding Nemo" was Crush the Sea Turtle.

It's okay, you can fess up. Sure, you loved Ellen DeGeneres' voice singing to jellyfish and speaking whale, but you were a complete and utter sucker for the painfully-stereotypical-surfer-brah sea turtle.

And for those of you that would really like to show your love for "takin' on the jellies," there is a way for you to do so while enjoying your summer vacation. Enter SEE Turtle.

An off-shoot project of eco-tour SEEtheWILD, SEE Turtle is one of many nonprofit groups that connects globe-trotting sea-creature-enthusiasts with opportunities to get hands-on with the conservation of many endangered species.

What KQED dubs in a recent article as "voluntourism," SEE Turtle volunteers have the opportunity to aid researchers in Mexico, Central America and Trinidad & Tobago in finding nesting sea turtles and getting their eggs to hatcheries in an effort to keep the species thriving.

And depending on the time of year that volunteers take their tour, they could also be involved in releasing baby sea turtles.

Righteous.

And turtles aren't the only endangered species that have grabbed the attention of these eco-tour organizations. Nonprofit Global Vision International takes whale and dolphin enthusiasts on week-long boat tours to monitor habitat, while EarthWatch launches more than 20 tours all over the world to aid a variety of sea creatures.

Eco-tours normally last for about a week - depending on the project and organization - and can cost from $20 a day up to thousands of dollars per week."

Source: KQED news



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DavidE
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[*] posted on 7-7-2012 at 07:59 AM


One kilometer south of my home Las Peñas, is a turtle hatchery for green ridley turtles. Mi compadre Jesús is one of the licensed mariscoderos (lobster and oysters) that is assigned to the shed during the hatching season which occurs in summer. The turtles wait out at sea until a storm develops big waves then they surf up as far as they can onto the beach at night. It takes around two hours to dig their nest, another hour to lay the eggs, a half hour to swipe flippers and cover the nest and then they retreat back to the sea. Forty five days later the eggs hatch over a two day period. The hatchlings either try to make it to the sea on their own or until a few brothers and sisters give them the courage to follow along. This may be done at night or on a very cloudy day. In Michoacan, a lanchero races his panga back and forth parallel to the beach to spook predators when a hatchery gaggle is released, sometimes thousands of hatchings at a time. Then the lanchero will set his boat beyond the waves and click on a 50 watt incandescent light bulb, the same one they use for night fishing for huauchinango. The hatchlings see the light and head for the surf. In 2010, eighteen thousand plus were hatched from this crude shack. The Mexican marines guard it day and night. That year I donated a Flamaneta gas lantern, a tank and a large roll of tar paper to the effort. I started a fledgeling tourist business for the hatchery where tourists could donate building supplies and heir labor to possibly build another structure two miles further down the beach.

The marines down there are really touchy about whom they find at night among the turtles. Jesús wears his ID around his neck.

Thanks Gypsy Jan, for posting this.



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