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Hopes are High for 2021 Sea Turtle Nesting Season

Over 1000 Sea Turtle Nests Anticipated on the Riviera Maya

To date, 34 sea turtle nests have been counted in four camps along the Riviera Maya

For the current Riviera Maya sea turtle nesting season in the municipality of Solidaridad, the specialists who monitor the arrival of the chelonians expect more than a thousand nests of the species along the coast. Jorge Pavón Reynaga, head of the central area of ​​the nesting camps, reported that to date 34 turtle nests have been counted in four camps that the Solidaridad municipality has.

“The 22.2 kilometers that we monitor with the municipality, to date we have 34 total nests of the four camps that is the central area that it is my turn to monitor, between the Iberostar hotel, Belmond Maroma and the Playa Paraíso residential complex, of those 34, 24 are from loggerhead turtles, one from hawksbill turtle and nine from white turtle ”, said Pavón Reynaga.

riviera maya sea turtle
Photo by Giorgia Doglioni on Unsplash

Along the entire coast of Quintana Roo, the nesting season begins in May and ends in November, although it happens that after those dates there is extraordinary nesting. With the current nests that exist, the camps add 2,923 eggs.

This 2021 the nesting season will be of high arrival of the marine turtle species since compared to 2020 in the natural cycle, that year was of low nesting. “We hope that we will have more than a thousand nests this season (…) last year at this point we had fewer nests, about 19 or 20 perhaps because it was a year of low nesting for the species,” said Jorge Pavón.

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The first offspring are expected to be born in July, which will be released in accordance with the protocols that specialists have to carry out, based on the regulations for the protection of said species.

Regarding sargassum, which has arrived in high quantities in recent weeks on the coast of Solidaridad, Pavón Reynaga mentioned that, fortunately, it has not had a negative impact on the turtles, as in previous years it had happened, in the same way, neither have they had cases of egg poaching.

He invited the population to respect this species when it is seen spawning on the beach, in addition to calling the emergency number 911 for assistance.

Source: SIPSE