Climate Action Mexico Project #5928

Help Rebuild the Gulf of Mexico Barrier Reef

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Project Report | Mar 9, 2016
Conservation Camps & Day Survey Equipment

By Kate Robey | Charitable Trust Operations Manager

Dear Supporter,

Sea turtles have been around for 100 million years and they have played an important role in the Marine ecosystems ever since. Unfortunately, its populations and survival rates have decreased drastically due to different natural and anthropogenic threats. They are now classified as an endangered species.

There are seven marine turtle species in the world, four out of them live and nest in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, so they are an important species in the region culturally and ecologically. GVI has been supporting different conservation efforts towards sea turtles and marine ecosystems ever since we have been working here. One of them is the marine turtle conservation program in Riviera Maya, Tulum, conducted by Flora, Fauna y Cultura de Mexico A.C on the central coast of Quintana Roo, between Playa del Carmen and the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve. Currently, 13 nesting beaches are protected, covering 36 km of coast. These beaches represent the most important sites for nesting populations of the loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green turtle (Chelonia mydas) species, at national level.

We have recently contributed with US$1,800 to support the different marine turtle conservation camps on the coast of Quintana Roo. These funds will be used, mainly to increase the beach patrols on the beaches of San Juan and Punta Yuyum inside the Sian Ka’an biosphere Reserve.

Beside protecting the nests, data is also gathered. This data helps to indicate the turtle recovery rates, successful hatchlings, changes in behaviour and threats, adaptation dynamics and population numbers. This is used to help decision makers at a National and International level to reinforce control measures and create National Parks or marine protected areas.

The rest of the money will be used to buy equipment for another local NGO, Amigos de Sian Ka’an for their marine conservation projects. It is very common that local NGOs get funding for specific projects which are short or midterm based, but they have other long term projects which need a special type of equipment and that type of funding doesn’t provide. Hence, the equipment to be bought will be a laptop, a camera, a printer, underwater paper and diving insurance for the staff doing the different projects.

Thank you for making this possible!

With Gratitide,

GVI Mexico

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Jan 5, 2016
Annual Marine Turtle Festival

By Kate Robey | Charitable Trust Operations Manager

Sand castle building at the annual turtle festival

Dear Supporter,

The Marine Turtle Festival in Tulum and Akumal is an annual event hosted by 15 partner marine conservation organizations around Quintana Roo state. This annual festival, held at the end of nesting season, is a way for locals to learn about turtle behavior, what they consume and what is harming them directly. GVI has taken part in the planning of this festival for over 10 years.

Pez Maya is a marine conservation base and we dive almost every day. We see the first-hand effects that trash and climate change are bringing to the reef and the coastal ecosystems as a whole. We teach the volunteers about conversation and environmental preservation so they can go home with new knowledge and share their experiences with friends and family. However, teaching children is probably one of the most important ways to educate an entire community.

Our goal for the Marine Turtle festival was to show children, who are living here in the Yucatan and who are experiencing these changes along with us, how people can help an ecosystem no matter how big or small the action is.

This year the team was involved in several activities. We manned a booth in Tulum town on the first evening that encouraged people to play a turtle memory game and a turtle puzzle. There was also a board for children to guess what is good for turtles (sea grass, jellyfish and crabs) and what is bad (plastic, pollution and boats), and a board showing children the different things you can recycle, informing them on trash in the sea.

On the second day we moved to the beach where we participated in homemade-kite flying, sandcastle building and a scavenger hunt. Everyone had a blast and it was great to see the kids getting excited by turtle facts. Did you know that one turtle can lay 100 eggs?

It was, all in all, an amazing experience for everyone involved. We hope that by informing kids now, they can grow up and help protect turtles and the marine environment.

With Gratitude,

GVI Mexico

Kids enjoying the festival

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Oct 13, 2015
The Hunt

By Kate Robey | Charitable Trust Operations Manager

THE HUNT

Dear Supporter,

They are beautiful, dressed with vivid colors of red, white and black. They have elegant venomous spines and a developed killing instinct. They are one of the top predators of this area, but the problem is, that they are not supposed to be here.

Lionfish are a threat to our reefs. This invasive species is eating the native fish without anyone to stop them. Not even sharks seem interested in them. Someone needs to make a stand, and that someone is us, the Pez Maya team.

So with that on mind we decided to organize “THE HUNT”. This event had a triple purpose; the main one, of course, to help our reef by removing some of the Lionfish found in the area. The second was to help our fellow GVI colleagues in Nepal by raising money to buy supplies for the earthquake victims of the May 2015 earthquakes in that area. And, last but not least, this hunt was the launch of our new Lionfish research project at Pez Maya, were we will study, monitor and dissect this species in a more structured program.

We split into two teams, ‘The Guardians of the Reef ’ and ‘The Avengers’. We started off with a quiz on the biology, behavior and history of this fish. Next we watched tarining videos, receiving lectures, practised using the spear on land, and then in water; and finally finished off off with thorough safety precautions, especially on handling the fish after they have been shot.

Then came the day for the big hunt! Our battleground was the diving site famous for the amount of Lionfish sightings and each team had 38 minutes to catch as many Lionfish as possible. We managed to catch 18 in total! All fish were
measured, filleted, and dissected and the information recorded. Interesting finds in the stomachs were things like
juvenile filefish, and a praying Mantis Shrimp – showing what a voracious predator the Lionfish really is.

We ended the day off by cooking the lion fish. The Guardians of the Reef were a little more elegant, creating a breaded Lionfish dish served with white wine and dipping sauces. While The Avengers were a little more daring and created a ceviche full with flavour, strategically placed along the torso of one of the team members, who wore a simple palm loincloth. That act earned them the prize of the best presentation!

It was a fantastically fun day, but most importantly we caught 18 Lionfish, a new record in Pez Maya and more than $800 was donated to Nepal.

We look forward to bringing you news of how this research project progresses.

With Gratitude,

GVI Mexico

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