Cancún Monitors 12 Kilometers of Beaches, 52 Corrals to Protect Sea Turtles in 2026 Nesting Season

Cancún, Quintana Roo — More than 50 hotels in Cancún’s hotel zone are participating in the 2026 Municipal Sea Turtle Protection Program, maintaining guarded nesting corrals staffed by biologists and trained personnel throughout the May-to-October season.

Fernando Haro Salinas, director of the Municipal Ecology Department, said this year authorities will monitor over 12 kilometers of beach from Punta Cancún to Punta Nizuc to ensure the protection and conservation of nesting species.

“In the coming days we will finish installing the 52 protection corrals that we will have along these 12 kilometers of beach,” Haro Salinas said.

He noted that sargassum seaweed does not affect turtle nesting and explained that the main species arriving on the shores of Benito Juárez are the white turtle (green turtle), the loggerhead turtle, and the hawksbill turtle.

Only two leatherback turtle nests have been detected so far, a species that nests more frequently in central Quintana Roo.

“Tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. we will also install, as part of the municipality, the corral at Playa Delfines; so we are practically in the season now,” Haro Salinas said.

The ecology director said the first turtle arrival of the season occurred on May 10, when a loggerhead turtle deposited about 150 eggs.

The city government is running information campaigns to alert visitors and residents about nest protection, penalties for egg extraction, and the importance of keeping pets and objects off the beach that could obstruct the turtles’ path.

He also urged the public not to intervene when hatchlings emerge and to report any situation to 911, the Ecology Department, or trained hotel staff.

Haro Salinas said the department continues to accept volunteers and students for social service in protection efforts, though participants must be over 18 due to requirements set by the federal Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat (Semarnat).

Patrols are conducted jointly by hotel and condominium staff, municipal workers, and trained volunteers along the hotel zone.

Last season, about 1.2 million eggs were counted, and approximately 1.13 million hatchlings of white and loggerhead turtles emerged.