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Sea Turtles: Puerto Vallarta's Expected Visitors

by Biol. Oscar S. Aranda Mena |

The rainy season is in its peak and some of the sea turtles have begun to visit our beaches to deposit their eggs along with their hopes for survival and to form new generations, but can they achieve this with so many people trying to eat their eggs?




A Very Welcome Visit

As they do every year, Olive Ridley turtles follow their instinctual commitment to perpetuate their life cycle: to clamber ashore and deposit their eggs in a nest buried on the beach where they will incubate naturally thanks to the temperature and the humidity of the sand. Each time, more and more tourists visit our city in search of a "close encounter" with a turtle, and this turns out to be of great benefit for this tourist destination, but also somewhat dangerous for the turtles if they are not viewed respectfully from a distance because tourist tend to invade their "private moment" and prevent them from laying their eggs. However, under the guidance of a skilled guide, this could become a very unique and exciting experience which is capable of turning a cold heart into a warm soul due to the care these animals place on survival and in giving life.


The hidden truth

Nonetheless, very few people are unaware of the true situation that the turtles face on a daily basis in order to survive by facing an endless array of natural dangers, as well as a never ending list of dangers caused by humans; that being the illegal consumption of their eggs under the false myth that their eggs are a natural aphrodisiac.

This is how millions of eggs are collected each season throughout Mexico and then illicitly distributed in each city, and Puerto Vallarta is no exception. There are houses, restaurants and small stores which discretely offer this "exclusive" product under the blind eye and ears of the authorities.

It's irrelevant to talk about the crime that is being committed upon their consumption, and I am not just referring to the federal crime that as a currently being committed, but rather the crime of denying a tiny turtle the opportunity to be the only survivor of the nest; as such we must realize that the most precise estimates show that only one out of every one thousand turtles that are born will reach maturity to be able to reproduce and deposit more eggs.


A Health Hazard

If you are a person who enjoys eating turtle eggs, please take the following "health hazard" and warnings and stop: It has been detected that turtle meat and eggs contain high levels of heavy metals and organic pollutants, and these are stored and transmitted from generation to generation since they can not be cleansed by our organism. The consumption of turtle products significantly contributes to an increase in the risk of contracting some types of cancer and heart disease. It has also been confirmed that these components also cause infertility and sexual dysfunction; thus resulting in results contrary to those typically sought after (and in fact not true): sexual power and the worst thing is that those agents will be stored in your system and you will transmit them to your children, just as the turtles currently do.

There are additional problems with contamination; since the eggs can potentially transmit bacteria and parasites which can cause severe stomach infections; since these eggs come out from the same place where turtles defecate. It sound gross, but it's quite true and those of us who work hard to conserve these magnificent animals should also take the sanitary measures during their handling in order to not be at risk of infection.


A Happy Ending?

Fortunately, little by little, people are becoming ever more conscious about the importance of conserving the sea turtles and our newer generations are growing up clearer about the reality in which we are all living and the reality that the sea turtles are facing, as well as all the other animals in the planet. A tourist or a local passerby or whom ever participates voluntarily or involuntarily in the care of a turtle while it lays its eggs on the beach or during the release of some newborns into the sea will be changed by the experience, and they will be moved by the great struggle of these organisms and their efforts to survive and face their dangers; and it is that willingness that has allowed them to survive major catastrophes thereby making them the most ancient living organism on the planet.

It's worthwhile to consider regarding the complicated future that we are all facing due to pollution and over consumption. The question is whether or not we will also survive a long time with this greedy and egotistical life-style of and forgetting that we too are one more animal on the face of this earth.



*Oscar Aranda is a biologist dedicated to the conservation of natural resources through environmental conscious and is in charge f the marine turtle protection program in Puerto Vallarta. If you need additional information, visit his Web page at www.vallartanature.org.

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