Sea Turtles in the Gulf Need Your Help! Waterkeepers Unite in La Paz Grupo Tortuguero Creates Strategic Plan to Last a Decade! New Friends of Pro Esteros Fund within Pro Peninsula Portfolio Mark Your Calendar! "Virtual" Summer Lunada August 2010 Don't Miss Your Chance...Vote for Pro Peninsula!

BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has become a threat to all marine life inhabiting the area and officials believe that sea turtles may be in the most danger. Over a month after the blowout occurred, the oil spill is still leaking over 210,000 gallons of oil a day. The spill has now seeped into the outer region of the Mississippi River, and has even stretched all the way to the coast of Florida. Scientists now fear that the strong ocean current called the Loop Current will carry oil all the way to the coast of Cuba. "We're especially worried about the fate of this oil spill and how it might affect the coral reefs, the fish population, and a very large population of nesting green sea turtles," said David Guggenheim, senior fellow at The Ocean Foundation.

So far there have been 430 sea turtles found, either dead or stranded, along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana (according to NOAA). Most of the sea turtles found were of the Kemp’s ridley species; these endangered animals use the Gulf Coast as their only breeding grounds. The recorded sea turtle deaths and strandings are significantly higher than what has been recorded in the past, and though the necropsies have not yet revealed the presence of oil (deep tissue testing is still being analyzed), scientists believe that in most cases, the sea turtle deaths were a direct result of the recent oil spill.

Federal officials are critically concerned for the future of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle because its entire life cycle depends on the health of this region. Darcy Cook of SAIC Marine Operations adds, “The nesting season runs through mid-July and most of the mothers will remain in areas where there is currently no oil. But after they lay eggs, females traditionally go to the Mississippi River mouth to feed. Baby turtles may also float on currents and seaweed patches that are currently covered in oil.”

The Kemp’s ridley turtle population was seriously reduced to just a few hundred turtles by another oil spill, the IXTOC 1 in 1979. Through conservation and research efforts, the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle population eventually increased to approximately 8,000. Years later, it is disastrous that a similar manmade catastrophe has once again placed this fragile species in danger of extinction.

While the ongoing news about the oil spill is certainly alarming, it is important to recognize that this catastrophe will most likely serve to reform the public’s opinion on the importance of ocean health. Also, in light of this disaster, our President has agreed to refrain from endorsing new offshore oil developments in US waters—at least for the time being. With many new offshore oil developments having been recently proposed (and actually approved prior to the spill), our Nation is being forced to reconsider our own dependence on offshore drilling, as well as our serious impact on the ocean—a part of nature upon which we certainly depend.

You can help today by donating to The Ocean Foundation’s Sea Turtle Fund or by adopting a sea turtle! All sea turtle adoptions and donations made to the Sea Turtle Fund during June-August 2010 will be directed to conservation efforts directly relating to recovering sea turtles harmed by the oil spill.

To adopt a sea turtle click here, or to donate in support of sea turtles struggling through the aftermath of the oil spill, please click here. You can also show your support by attending our Sea Turtle Tuesday Event at the Ritual Tavern restaurant & bar on Tuesday, June 22.

Sea Turtle Tuesday @ The Ritual Tavern

Waterkeeper Alliance – the global environmental organization uniting more than 190 different Waterkeeper programs around the world – celebrated its 11th anniversary during the Waterkeeper Alliance annual conference on June 9-13, 2010. The conference was held in La Paz, Mexico, and was clearly one of the most important gatherings yet for watershed advocates around the world. The conference united Waterkeepers from 19 different countries to discuss the environmental, economic and social realities of coastal development.

“We are very excited to hold this year’s conference in La Paz, where we can celebrate our Waterkeepers’ successes and discuss the challenges they face, while renewing our dedication for protecting and restoring waterways in Mexico and around the world,” said Waterkeeper Alliance President Robert Kennedy, Jr.

The conference showcased the efforts of six Waterkeeper chapters that protect the waterways of the Baja California peninsula. Together, the communities of Bahía de Los Angeles, Punta Abreojos, Loreto, Magdalena Bay, La Paz, and Los Cabos work to protect water quality, fisheries, and coastal habitats while maintaining public access to beaches and waterways along the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez.

“Waterkeepers are often fishermen and others who make their living on the water. They are part of the coastal communities they work to protect, and often have to face powerful interests which oppose environmental protection,” said Waterkeeper Alliance Executive Director Kristine Stratton.

Mexico contains some of the richest biodiversity in the entire world. However, development – much of it related to tourism – has had a major negative impact as it encroaches on coastal habitats, making the work of local Waterkeepers more crucial than ever.

This year the Waterkeeper Alliance opened the annual conference to the general public for the first time. The Alliance hosted a public forum and invited citizens of La Paz, public officials, and communities from throughout the region to discuss water conservation and the challenges facing coastal sustainability. Speakers at the public forum included noted scientist and conservationist Dr. Exequiel Ezcurra, mangrove expert and marine biologist Dr. Octavio Aburto, and Dr. Raquel Gutierrez, a renowned public interest attorney and key litigant in environmental struggles in Mexico.

The importance of the Waterkeeper Alliance and its local members was recently made abundantly clear as Waterkeepers on the Gulf of Mexico work with the federal government to battle the disastrous affects of the BP oil spill.

For more information, please visit www.waterkeeper.org.

The Grupo Tortuguero de las Californias, A.C. (GTC) represents 30 communities throughout the northwestern part of Mexico; of these communities, 15 lie along the Pacific coast of the Baja California peninsula and 15 border the Gulf of California. Each of the GTC sites contains important sea turtle feeding and breeding areas. Some of these sites have recently reported increased levels of nesting, such as in the Bays of La Paz, Loreto, Agua Verde, and Los Angeles. However, the primary sea turtle nesting sites are in the Los Cabos region, from Todos Santos to Bahía de la Ventana, and along the beaches of southern Sinaloa and Nayarit.

In each of the GTC sites team members work to provide environmental education, usually linked with the monitoring groups and local organizations that are involved. Since sea turtle populations are declining throughout most of the world, and the northwestern region of Mexico is no exception, we are obligated to take action for the sustainable management and conservation of sea turtles at a regional level. The need for the GTC to form a regionally-specific Strategic Plan thus became clear and, thanks to support from the WWF-TELCEL Alliance and The Nature Conservancy, in May this plan became a reality, concluding with the integration of all GTC records and information into new MIRADI software.

The process of creating a Strategic Plan consisted of four interactive workshops. The first workshop involved members of the GTC staff and members of their Board of Directors, who helped design the plan’s conceptual model and eight strategic lines with which to measure results. The process also included three additional workshops, each containing representatives from different GTC sites and key institutions. These workshops established goals for the GTC work plans, monitoring activities, as well as specific tasks for the future. The GTC and its members can now rely on a Strategic Plan for the next 10 years, which will lead to collective action for the conservation of sea turtles throughout the entire northwestern portion of Mexico.

Pro Esteros is an organization that began in 1988 and since then has worked continuously to conserve the coastal wetlands of the Baja California peninsula. Pro Esteros currently works in the five states of Northwestern Mexico: Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Nayarit. Recently, Pro Esteros joined forces with Pro Peninsula to establish a new “Friends of Pro Esteros Fund” within the Pro Peninsula portfolio at The Ocean Foundation.

The work of Pro Esteros is divided into three specific areas; Projects, Education, and Strengthening Communities. The “Projects” area allows ideas with a scientific basis to be carried out, such as the search for new conservation tools, like those of the Wetland Inventory, the studies for the Base of Ordinance, the RAMSAR files, analysis for the Legal Market, and a project to design a strategy for the Economic Valuation of the Environmental Services of wetlands without a mangrove swamp, such as those in Baja California.

The “Education” sector of Pro Esteros deals with a variety of tasks which vary from the design and production of educational materials relating to the theme of wetlands, to the RAMSAR Convention, to the flora and fauna of this type of ecosystem, etc. This sector is also responsible for the disclosure of Pro Esteros actions, by means of the Logbook of the Wetlands, a bulletin published three times per year. Finally, the “Education” component of Pro Esteros carries out public forums, events, school visits, and guided tours to the Punta Banda Estuary and La Lagunita, amongst other activities.

The “Strengthening Communities” area of Pro Esteros works directly with the communities that live and use the resources from the coastal wetlands, providing workshops, consulting services, and helping communities to get involved and actively participate in the conservation of the wetlands upon which they depend. Pro Esteros has also formed a series of groups, alliances, and coalitions allowing them to promote their conservation efforts widely. Pro Peninsula is thrilled to welcome the new “Friends of Pro Esteros Fund” into our portfolio, to help generate new avenues of support for Pro Esteros’ important work throughout Mexico.

For more information contact proesteros@gmail.com or visit www.proesteros.org.

Pro Peninsula’s 4th Annual Summer Lunada has gone virtual! The Virtual Summer Lunada will be an online event during the month of August to promote and fundraise for environmental conservation throughout the Baja California peninsula. Because this will be an online event, “virtually” all of our Pro Peninsula members can participate, no matter where you are! As part of our online event, we will be hosting a luxury raffle featuring grand travel, leisure, and adventure packages worth thousands of dollars! Ticket sales will start at just $60 and will include your participation in the exciting Lunada raffle. Event information and Virtual Tickets will be available the first of August…so prepare to get involved! For more information, please contact gigi@propeninsula.org.