Individuals coming together to show their support for conservation

It takes more than just the Pro Peninsula staff to help strengthen individual and community efforts to protect the natural environment of the Baja California peninsula: it takes a network of dedicated conservationists—our members—to make our mission a reality. Pro Peninsula extends a heartfelt Gracias to each and every one of our members for your support over the last year. Thanks to your efforts and dedication, Pro Peninsula members contributed over $100,000 last year alone! Here’s a glimpse at how your contributions directly supported Pro Peninsula’s mission of environmental conservation during 2008…

10th Annual Meeting of the Grupo Tortuguero, January 18th - 20th

• Pro Peninsula members and supporters gave over $20,000 in donations to support the 10th Annual Meeting of the Grupo Tortuguero (GT), held in Loreto, BCS in January of 2008. These funds were critical for providing travel scholarships to nearly 100 participants from throughout the Baja California peninsula and Latin America, as well as underwriting key conference activities. Your generosity helped bring together over 400 people from around the world to share their stories and learn from others for the sake of sea turtle conservation…resulting in the best and most informative GT conference to date!

The successful conservation of the Baja California peninsula is something for which we must work together. Here are some ways that you can help out in 2009: Join today! Ring in the New Year with giving and great wine! Donate to Pro Peninsula in January and you will receive 50% off any order from Shark Trust Wines! Click here to donate today! Grow our conservation network! Invite your friends and family to join you as a member of Pro Peninsula. Click here for more information. Get involved! Join our listserv, volunteer for an upcoming event, or even take a trip down the Baja California peninsula to experience our conservation efforts first-hand! Click here for more information and a calendar of upcoming events. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Join Timmy the Turtle at our Ocean Connectors webpage to learn great tips and tricks for putting ocean conservation into practice. Click here for more information. Give Green! When the time comes to give a gift, be it for the holidays or just because, give the gift of conservation! Adopt a sea turtle here!

Your support of Pro Peninsula allows us to carry out our conservation efforts throughout the region, including:

• protecting endangered loggerhead and hawksbill sea turtles through the groundbreaking research of ProCaguama and Proyecto !Carey!,
• strengthening local conservation efforts through the WATERKEEPER network,
• creating sustainable economic alternatives through our Conservation Tourism programs,
• providing local communities and fisherman with the tools needed to protect and save sea turtles through the Grupo Tortuguero sea turtle conservation network,
• crossing borders to create a shared sense of stewardship in youth through our Ocean Connectors environmental education program, and
• involving local communities in global conservation efforts through our International Meetings and Fishers Exchanges.

Mexican fisherman, Efrain de la Paz Regalado, retires the bottom-set longlines that were killing hundreds of turtles every year

In November, Pro Peninsula Co-Director Chris Pesenti together with Pro Peninsula Board Chair, Barbara Andrews, Alexander Gaos, and Grupo Tortuguero founder and long time Pro Peninsula supporter, J. Nichols joined an audience of students, researchers, friends, and colleagues, all eager to support Hoyt Peckham’s ground-breaking research on the loggerhead sea turtle. The audience listened intently while Hoyt, Pro Peninsula’s Field Programs Director and coordinator of ProCaguama, defended his dissertation, which is based on years of research and field work spanning the Pacific coast of the Baja California peninsula, and reaching all the way to Hawaii and coastal Japan. It was clear from the introduction by Peckham’s doctoral committee that he had taken an unconventional approach; pushing his professors to accept his focus on the conservation aspect of scientific research. As his presentation unfolded, it became clear that he had succeeded; his loggerhead research efforts have served as a tool for opening the minds of his professors as well as entire communities of Mexican, Japanese, and Hawaiian fishermen, government officials, students, researchers, and conservation professionals around the world.

Hoyt’s research has brought to light vital information regarding loggerhead sea turtles: where they congregate, how they travel and feed, and where they face the greatest danger from their biggest threat—interactions with humans. But his work has also revealed revolutionary tactics in the field of conservation itself. Hoyt’s work has proven beyond a doubt the value of involving all aspects of the community in conservation efforts and the significance of creating overseas bonds between individuals, thereby adding a local context to global issues.

At Pro Peninsula, we speak for people around the world whom Hoyt’s work has touched in one way or another; the people who would have easily filled ten rooms of equal size that evening in Santa Cruz. We are joined by individuals and communities from different nations, backgrounds, and ethnicities when we say that we are proud to have played a part in the ProCaguama project, and have benefited as individuals and conservationists from our interaction with Hoyt’s historical efforts. Congratulations Dr. Peckham!

Dr. Peckham is currently visiting Japan as part of his ongoing postdoctoral work at Pro Peninsula to reduce loggerhead sea turtle mortality. We each look forward to seeing Hoyt this January at the Grupo Tortuguero Annual Meeting in Loreto, Baja California Sur. Read on for details about this event.

In 1999, a loosely connected band of fishermen, scientists, conservationists and coastal residents came together to form the grassroots sea turtle conservation network, Grupo Tortuguero (GT). They had a shared, singular vision: restore the sea turtle populations of the Californias. The movement grew quickly due to a unique combination of its open and inviting disposition, the urgency and clarity of the cause, and the camaraderie felt by all who joined. For the past 5 years Pro Peninsula has worked to strengthen this network, planning annual meetings, coordinating the efforts of sea turtle monitoring communities, and spreading the word of conservation throughout the region. Now, capitalizing on 10 years of successful conservation work with the GT, we are embarking on a new decade of sea turtle conservation in Mexico, with a newly formed non-profit and new leadership within the organization.

Grupo Tortuguero team members work tirelessly to protect sea turtles throughout the Eastern Pacific Ocean

Pro Peninsula will continue to work in close partnership with the Grupo Tortuguero, collaborating on our programs to protect and conserve the sea turtles of the region, and will be a partner in planning this year’s Annual Meeting.

The Grupo Tortuguero will gather for its 11th Annual Meeting in Loreto, BCS, from January 30th to February 1st. This will be a historic meeting, as it will be the first meeting the Grupo Tortuguero will officially organize as an independent Mexican organization.

Join Pro Peninsula in celebrating the past 10 years of successfully saving sea turtles throughout the Californias and help us to welcome a new decade of sea turtle conservation in the region! Head south this winter to witness the efforts of hundreds of people working together to create a powerful sea turtle protection community in Mexico…and beyond!

For more information about the 11th Annual Meeting of the Grupo Tortuguero, please contact aaron@grupotortuguero.org.

Unable to make it to the meeting? Join us as a sponsor! Click here to sponsor an individual or a community to attend the 11th Annual Meeting of the Grupo Tortuguero.

Congratulations to Cody Parkovich, who successfully recruited the most new members during Pro Peninsula’s 1st-ever Membership Drive! Cody won a brand new laptop computer, generously donated by SONY. Cody, a San Diego-based marine and avid Pro Peninsula volunteer, successfully recruited new members from San Diego, Oklahoma, and North Carolina! Cody truly engaged his network of friends and family to garner support for Pro Peninsula and our conservation projects. Honorable mentions go to long-time Pro Peninsula supporters Robert Lee and Todd Smith, who came in at a close 2nd and 3rd place! In the end, the membership drive resulted in a 30% increase in membership—raising crucial funding for our programs and engaging new Pro Peninsula supporters from across the US.

Thank you to SONY for sponsoring Pro Peninsula’s membership drive…and congratulations to Cody for his incredible efforts! Thank you to everyone who participated!