The Grupo Tortuguero Comcáac, the Sea Turtle Group of the Comcáac people, in El Desemboque de los Seris is fighting to increase the population of sea turtles, a sacred animal, in the Gulf of California. In the past five years they have managed to release more than 8,000 olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) hatchlings along 14 kilometers (9 miles) of the Mancha Blanca and El Faro beach. […]
Mayra Estrella’s father always spoke to her about sea turtles. […] “We are more tied to the leatherback sea turtle, but we are also connected to the green sea turtle […].” Mayra Estrella […] has dedicated 23 years to working with these reptiles or marine chelonians, earning her the affectionate name “turtle mom” among her colleagues and the people in her community of El Desemboque de los Seris – or Haxöl Iihom, its original name in cmiique iitom, the language of the Comcáac people. She earned her nickname after others saw the love she has for the little animals that leave the nesting pen in the turtle camp located between the desert and the sea in the municipality of Pitiquito, Sonora, in northwestern Mexico.
This camp was created to ensure the survival of turtles in oceans, not only because they are seriously threatened, but also because of what they represent for the Comcáac people. Because of this, Mayra Estrella and a group of 20 others in her community, including family and friends, are working to protect female turtles and their nests along the beaches […]. In the last five years she has witnessed a growth in the number of nests and hatchlings released, with more than 8,000 olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) released into the waters of the Gulf of California. By the end of November 2021, this figure is estimated to be 11,000 hatchlings.
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“My dad loved to tell me stories, songs and tales about our ancestors,” Estrella adds. “He told me that the leatherback sea turtle [Dermochelys coriacea], was a man before becoming a turtle; a person just like us who felt pain, heat and hunger.” […] “That’s why we have […] celebrations every time there is a sighting of a leatherback sea turtle on the beach; it reconnects us,” says the leader of the Grupo Tortuguero Comcáac. […]
It has been several years since the community has seen a leatherback sea turtle in the area. […] [T]he leatherback sea turtle is one of the most endangered turtles in the world. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies it as critically endangered. […]
While waiting for a leatherback sea turtle to return, Mayra Estrella takes care of the rest of the turtles that come lay their eggs along 11 kilometers (7 miles) of the Mancha Blanca beach and 3 (2 miles) of the El Faro beach. At night, when the female turtles finish laying their eggs and return to the sea, the turtle team collects and takes them to the camp to protect them from coyotes (Canis latrans), their natural predators in the desert.
Their workdays last up to 12 hours […]. Over time, they began receiving funding from the state during the nesting seasons. However, Mayra Estrella maintains that “the work achieves more than the resources because [the funds] are cut off too soon.” She explains that they are currently “working without one peso,” though this does not stop them because they love their work. […] Germán Barrera works at CONANP, is an analyst of protected natural areas and the technical manager of the Comcáac turtle project, where he serves as liaison between the indigenous community and CONANP. […] According to Barrera, the Comcáac Nation team works hard without seeing limited funds as a stumbling block […]. “Since the start of the project, there has not been a single year that they have not carried out activities. […]”
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The Grupo Tortuguero Comcáac (Sea Turtle Group of the Comcáac Nation) belongs to the national network of the Grupo Tortuguero de las Californias (Sea Turtle Group of the Californias), for which Karen Oceguera – a marine biologist and researcher – represents more than 50 teams throughout nine Mexican states. For 12 years she has supported the process of the Comcáac turtle catchers on nesting beaches, providing training and managing permits from the environmental authority […].
“We haven’t seen a leatherback sea turtle for years, but the turtles we do see and that have increased thanks to conservation efforts is the olive ridley sea turtle, which is the most common species in the entire northwestern region of Mexico and part of the Pacific,” explains Oceguera. […] “According to the Mexican Official Norm […], the species is endangered, but in international categories it is considered vulnerable, and so is no longer endangered. I believe this is thanks to the work of many community groups over many years, such as the Comcáac in this case.” […]
“It is not anecdotal, but formal,” she adds. “According to CONANP, there were between four and seven nests per season [in the Comcáac territory] 10 years ago; now we see more than 50 or 60. This was not seen before and tells the authorities that even with the little support they can give to communities, the work is paying off.”
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Headline, images, captions, and text by: Astrid Arellano.”Indigenous Comcaac turtle group saves sea turtles in Mexico’s Gulf of California.” Mongabay. As translated in English. 17 February 2022. Story originally published in Spanish at Mongabay’s Latam site on 19 November 2021. [Some paragraph breaks and contractions added by me.]
