By Kate Robey | Charitable Trust Operations Manager
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
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