Hola,
My brother and I established the Casa Tortuga guest house in El Salvador a few years back (www.ElSalvadorBeachRentals.com) and it’s been a fantastic experience on so many levels. We were aware that sea turtles (Tortugas) lay their eggs on Playa Dorada, the beach where our Salvadoran home is located, but didn’t know how many. For many socio-economic reasons, centuries of sea turtle egg harvesting has occurred in El Salvador. In this very poor nation many locals have survived by selling or eating the eggs. They get $2 to $3 per dozen on the black market. The Salvadoran government has recently ruled this practice illegal and efforts are underway to replace this turtle-economy with a sea turtle restoration economy, essentially paying the same amount for the eggs but putting them into incubation sites (Vivero de Tortugas) instead of the alternative.
We have witnessed sea turtles laying eggs just 50 feet from our house and a few months ago, on another beach, we witnessed a Vivero de Tortugas release over 700 baby turtles into gentle surf at sunset (see attached photos). Not only was this a beautiful event but it tipped us off that restoration efforts are now underway. I did some research and found that our beach, Playa Dorada, is identified as one of the top 3 beaches for Salvadoran sea turtle restoration. Four sea turtle species come to this small stretch of beach to lay eggs throughout the year; Hawksbill, Green, Kemp’s Ridley, and the awe inspiring six-foot long Leatherback. This is a special beach.
With further research I found a U.S. government supported organization that has efforts underway to establish locally operated turtle incubation stations. They have forged the essential government relationships as well as developed a program to make these stations successful.
Casa Tortuga is uniquely located on this critical beach and we are committed to making land available for a Vivero de Tortugas incubation station. The time is now to act because the government funded organization only has funding for 1 year to establish these stations. Without their involvement, we simply will not be able to make this happen. We are personally funding the building of the incubation corral and our care-takers daughter Patti is being educated to run the program.
This single Vivero de Tortugas has the potential to save up to 30,000 baby turtles per year. Mike and I cannot support the entire effort so we are reaching out to the friends of Casa Tortuga. Is this something that you can add to your 2010 giving plan? The YOU CAN HELP page has some ideas how you too can easily help make this conservation effort a success.
The next major nesting season begins in May and I am going there the last week of March to help with the corral construction. We greatly appreciate your consideration and any feedback.
Que la via bien,
Mark and Mike
Casa Tortuga www.ElSalvadorBeachRentals.com (if you haven’t seen the surf lodge)
Viva Tortuga www.VivaTortuga.org