STRENGTHEN RESPONSIBLE VISITATION PRACTICES OF CORAL REEFS: Q1 2019 PROGRESS UPDATE

WILDCOAST is starting the year strong with their Oaxaca Sea Turtle Conservation Project and has made great progress with a number of their goals.  First off, planning activities began to get ready for carrying out 12 monitoring trips this year. To this end, WILDCOAST met with local community partners and the Mexican Sea Turtle Center and additionally analyzed data from the nine monitoring trips that took place in the 2018-2019 season.  They estimate more than two million turtles nested at Morro Ayuta in the 9.3 mile stretch of beach and they are excited to begin their studies in 2019!  They also initiated planning activities with local partners for beetle control implementation that affects the sea turtles for the 2019-2020 arribada season that commences in August.  WILDCOAST also worked with the Mexican Sea Turtle Center to renew a collaboration agreement to develop conservation protections for the Morro Ayuta area.

Towards their goal of designing education materials, WILDCOAST developed an initial draft of a guide for sea turtle habitat visitation for local communities and visitors that includes maps, other visuals, and visitation best practices.  The organization also engaged 98 students from a local indigenous village in sea turtle conservation experiential learning activities and in Huatulco, WILDCOAST reached 130 local residents and tourists through an environmental festival to promote conservation of sea turtles.  WILDCOAST is also hard at work collaborating with the Mexican Sea Turtle Center to organize a workshop to train locals in the immediate response to oil spills and oiled wildlife. Lastly, WILDCOAST initiated a needs assessment for the indigenous communities of Rio Seco and Morro Ayuta.  Great work WILDCOAST!

Project Name: Sea Turtle Conservation Project
Organization Name: WILDCOAST
Year Grant Awarded: 2018
Progress Update: Quarter 1, 2019 Project Update