Moosni’s Journey

We were happily surprised for the tremendous response our Turtle Release Program received from Pedregal residents and everyone in Cabo San Lucas! We are happy to know that our efforts in conservation and education have yielded a great interest to protect a safe environment for the Sea Turtle.

Unfortunately, Moosni’s satellite tag was damaged by the strong currents in late November, which caused a complete cease in data collection. It is a sad news we will not be able to continue following her journey, but it gives us great hope to know we have gathered important information:

•    On a 21 day period of time, Moosni traveled a total of 621 km, not bad for an animal known to be “slow”!
•    Moosni did quite the opposite to what has been known for an olive ridley sea turtle as they usually tend to swim towards Sinaloa, Nayarit and Jalisco, but Moosni swam up north towards Bahía de Ulloa, north of Magdalena Bay. She did not linger in that area but decided to come back south.
•    The fact that Moosni swam to this area supports the complete rejection to the mining project, as it would bring devastating secondary effects to the marine life around that area.
•    On November 27th Moosni came back to Pedregal’s beach to lay more eggs. Although for the biologist team this was no surprise, it indeed was to the rest of us! We now know that the release location gets imprinted on their instinct and they tend to go back to where they once were freed and/or laid eggs. Tremendously interesting as it is another important reason to report turtle nests whenever we see them and to keep our beaches clean no matter what.

The first time Moosni came into shore and was “captured” for the biologist to secure the tag, she had come to lay eggs. We are happy to share that this past Saturday we had the privilege to release those hatchlings at Pedregal’s beach. We enjoyed a beautiful evening where several families witnessed how 275 olive ridley turtle hatchlings began their life adventure into the Pacific Ocean. Although it is known that roughly 1 hatchling out of 100 reaches adulthood, we trust that Pedregal’s beach will warmly welcome them in the future to a safe area to lay their nests.

Another result of this Turtle Project promoted by the Developer of Pedregal de Cabo San Lucas has directly benefited students at Colegio El Camino; in conjunction with the Programa para la Protección de la Tortuga Marina del H. XII Ayuntamiento de Los Cabos and Grupo Tortuguero de las Californias AC, a program for high school students was developed in which includes:

•    An instructive session about environmental education
•    A workshop where students are certified as instructors and trainers so they can riposte the information and they too become more aware and conscious of the impact of the sea turtle in our daily lives

We also want to acknowledge the dedication and hard work of our colleague Jennifer Powell; she has believed and supported this project from the beginning, her commitment is something we are very proud of.

We are left with the infinite satisfaction of having helped spread the word on the importance of environmental consciousness, but most importantly, our hearts will forever cherish the joyful faces of those kids and adults when they witnessed and were part of this beautiful life cycle. We will keep you updated with news about the Sea Turtle Conservation project and continue to invite you to be an agent of change.