Mexico's leatherback still endangered
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-06-22 09:54

Despite nearly two decades of conservation efforts, the world's biggest sea turtle species continues to disappear from Mexican waters and is sliding toward extinction around the globe, federal officials said Monday.

The leatherback can grow to 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) long and weigh between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds (545 to 680 kilograms). The species is included on red-alert extinction lists worldwide.

Leatherback hatchlings are protected in Puerto Rico. Despite conservation efforts, the turtles' numbers continue to decline. [cnn.com]

In Mexico, an adult population of 115,000 in 1982 dwindled to between 20,000 and 30,000 by 1996, officials said at a news conference.

"If we don't do something, we could lose the species in a very short time," said Oscar Ramirez, director of field operations for the wildlife division of the federal environmental prosecutor's office, Profepa.

Efforts to protect the leatherback have slowed its rate of disappearance, but the species likely won't begin recovering for at least 15 years, said Luis Fueyo, Profepa's director of inspections.

Laws designed to protect sea turtles in Mexico were first approved in 1988 and they were tightened last year.

Those caught trafficking turtles now can face up to nine years in prison.

During 139 sting operations in 2003, federal agents confiscated 231,975 turtle eggs and 101 products made using turtles and arrested 59 people. Through April of this year, federal laws had been used to prosecute nine people, Fueyo said.

Federal agents now patrol 23 beaches and keep an eye on nearby highways, looking to nab smugglers transporting turtle goods, Fueyo said.

The sale of turtle eggs and meat to restaurants is common in nearly all of southern and western Mexico and the practice stretches as far inland as Mexico City, according to Profepa.

In the north, the sale of shells, boots and other clothing made from turtle skin is popular, as is the illegal capture and sale of the reptiles as pets, according to Profepa.

Conservation efforts include the creation of 23 sea-turtle sanctuaries in 12 Mexican states as well as agreements with people in beachfront communities nationwide to police their communities for illegal sea turtle hunting, Fueyo said.

Mammoth nets used for commercial fishing -- especially aboard those vessels trolling Mexican waters for shrimp and sharks -- often inadvertently trap turtles, further threatening their fragile populations.

New guidelines require fisherman to abstain from spreading nets in turtle-rich areas. Also, last month, Profepa signed an agreement with Mexico's largest fishing organization to better protect turtles, Fueyo said.

Mexican waters are home to seven of the world's eight major species of sea turtle.

Despite setbacks for leatherbacks, conservation efforts have been more successful for other species. In Mexico, the adult population of Olive Ridley sea turtles went from fewer than 3,000 in 1992 to nearly three times that six years later. Its population fell back to just under 5,000 by the year 2001, however.

The Kemp's Ridley species, the smallest variety of sea turtle, saw its population rise from 702 Mexican nests in 1985 to more than 6,400 between 2002 and 2003.

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