Saving the Hawksbill Sea Turtle

BLUE COMMUNITIES:

Campeche Turtle Project

Help Us Save the Critically Endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Conservation • Beach Cleanups • Plastic Reduction Initiatives
Research • Youth Education • Arts & Culture

We’ve Expanded to the Maya Riviera of Mexico for the 2021 Season!

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Multi-Level Community Engagement

Acting Locally to Impact Globally

(Click HERE for Spanish)

We are very proud to be joining the fight to protect the Hawskbill Sea Turtle, which is one of the most endangered marine animals worldwide – and to be doing so by making it the pilot program for our all-new BlueCommunities initiative. We are partnering with Ninth Wave and Yuumtsil Káak Náab, which are two local NGOs in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. For five years, they have collaborated to make a difference for the Hawksbill nesting habitat along the Gulf of Mexico, in Campeche State, while using those efforts as an entry point to multi-level community engagement that includes plastic reduction initiatives, beach cleanups, youth and adult education, research, arts and culture. The project is centered in the communities Seybaplaya, a small fishing town of less than 10,000 people; and in San Francisco de Campeche, a historic colonial town of 220,000 thousand people, just several miles from the Seybaplaya nesting area.

In 2020, We Had

A RECORD NUMBER OF NESTS

Under Our Protection and

OVER 6,400 HATCHLINGS

Successfully Making It To The Sea!

BlueCommunities is a new initiative, in which we identify key communities and work with local NGOs within them to support existing environmental and sustainability projects, while also developing new opportunities based on local needs and resources. More detail will come soon.

PROJECT COMPONENTS

Conservation

Conservation efforts are lead by Luis Antonio Góngora Domínguez, biologist and founder of Yuumtsil Káak Náab. Involves monitoring of adult turtles and nests, intervention and assistance where necessary, and in particular securing nests and eggs to ensure that greater numbers of Hawksbill young hatch and reach the water, maximizing the potential for population numbers to stabilize at the moment of greatest threat in the animal’s life cycle.

Hawksbill sea turtle babies racing for the Gulf of Mexico

New hatchlings in Seybaplaya, Mexico, making their way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Plastic Reduction Initiatives

Through education, a weekly green market, political advocacy and working with a zero waste program in local schools, this program works directly with the Campeche and Seybaplaya communities to reduce the dependency of single-use plastic items.

Beach Cleanups

Cleanups provide a powerful opportunity to immerse individuals directly in the negative impact of plastic pollution. It’s an educational experience that often inspires change in behavior and incites a desire to inform others.

Plastic pollution covering the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Youth & Adult Education

In-community activities focused on creative engagement designed to convey information about the Hawksbill sea turtle, plastic pollution and sustainability. Locals participate in hatchling releases, witnessing firsthand the marvel of their co-inhabitors.

Luis Góngora leads a youth education workshop on the beach in Seybaplaya.

Research

Data collection is a major component to this project, and it’s collected both in relation to the turtles and the plastic pollution that we are finding on the beaches. Information about the turtles is shared with the Mexican Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, as well as sea turtle researchers worldwide. In addition, our team of scientists will be collecting and analyzing microplastic samples from the beaches and waters of both Seybaplaya and Campeche.

Arts & Culture

The annual Turtle Festival is the culmination of the nesting season. It’s a weekend of environmental celebration. It features workshops and talks about plastic pollution, conservation, and eco-tourism; in addition to concerts, release of hatchlings, painting of murals, and beach cleanups. There is also a weekly Green Market in Campeche’s historic town square.

Young boy enjoying some cake at the Turtle Festival! Photo: Ninth Wave Mexico