This Friday 26, the First Official Release of Turtles in Nuevo Vallarta will be Held

As part of the environmental education activities that are planned within the Blue Flag Certification program which holds Nuevo Vallarta Norte in this location, this Friday July 26th at 20:00 pm will be held the first official release at Camp Tortuguero Nuevo Vallarta, located next to hotel Bahia del Sol.

The beach in Nuevo Vallarta, has the highest number of arrivals historically recorded in the region. Some data of the National Sea Turtle Conservation of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp) indicate that during 2010 there were 51 olive ridley nests in the Mexican Pacific, of which about six thousand occurred within 14 miles of beaches of Nuevo Vallarta. So in many cases it is enough to stay awake a whole night, just a few hundred feet from the room, to live the experience and watch one of these turtles spawn.

According to the biologist Adrian Maldonado, from the Technological Institute of Bahia de Banderas (ITBB), the studies conducted with a group of his students put Nuevo Vallarta arrivals over other camps in less developed areas such as the beach El Naranjo near the Peñita de Jaltemba. The analysis of 10-year historical data indicates that sea turtles place an average of 250 nests per year per kilometer in Nuevo Vallarta. Only in 2007, six thousand ridleys came to this place.

The Maldonado figures are not exorbitant. In 2009, official estimates of turtle camps established in Nuevo Vallarta, indicated that until October, about four thousand nests had been recovered and turtles had freed 200 thousand newborns.

"In this camp the number rises each year. What I can say for sure is that the number of nests recovered has grown 600 percent in the eight years we have been working here", said at the time the biologist Antonio Razo, then responsible for the custody of these beaches.

Once the incubation season passes and the eggs hatch, the births begin to be seen, and the camp of Nuevo Vallarta offers the opportunity to be one of the lucky ones that releases the offspring.

But Nuevo Vallarta is not the only beach with the development of these advantages, as you can see in El Anclote, Punta Mita, Bucerias, La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and other populated areas. The beach at Las Tortugas, is a place where a harmonious development stands with nature, eg there was a reported recovery of 2,400 nests in 2009.

While facing the hotels located at the Rincon de Guayabitos the arrivals are not so great, the experience reaches a particularly exciting point at El Naranjo beach, very close to the hotel zone; as it has one of the most committed education and environmental protection programs.

Approaching this camp is not just a show for tourists, but a real educational experience.

Studies made by ITBB casts information that scientists themselves think is incredible: marine turtles are not afraid of development.

Of all the beaches in the region, the highest density of arrivals reaches Nuevo Vallarta. As it was already explained, contrary to what was believed, turtles prefer to spawn in areas where the beach is lit.

"There is a thesis that was left in its planning phase, because the student began eight years ago but has not completed it. The light scale was measured and curiously where more light was present was where more turtles nested. But there is something to take into account: adult turtles have an aversion to light, that is to say, they do not like to go where there is light, for which reason this trend is even more surprising", says Adrián Maldonado.

For more information on the release program contact José Juan Rodríguez Uribe in the cell (322) 109 51 38.

[readon1 url="http://www.prensaglobal.com/notas/51976.html"]Source: PrensaGlobal.com Translated by Rene Tripp[/readon1]