Sea turtles are among the most endangered marine animals inhabiting the coastal waters of the Californias. Their feeding areas range from Monterey Bay to San Diego Bay in California to the mangrove-fringed lagoons of Magdalena Bay in Baja California Sur, and along the island-studded coastline of Loreto Bay National Park in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez. Turtle meat is a staple of many traditional feasts throughout communities in Baja California, and sea turtle eggs are considered a form of natural Viagra and are sold throughout the markets of Mexico.

Declines in sea turtle populations over the past decade are attributed primarily to the continuance of the ages-old custom of eating sea turtle meat and eggs, as well as to fishing practices that inadvertently trap turtles as by-catch. Conservationists have therefore focused turtle protection efforts on campaigns aimed at reducing the demand for sea turtle products, reducing by-catch and, most important, involving members of fishing communities directly in sea turtle conservation and education programs.

Over the past nine years, much of the community-building effort has been highlighted at the annual meeting of the Grupo Tortuguero, or Sea Turtle Conservation Network of the Californias, which takes place in January in the seaside village of Loreto on the Sea of Cortez. Here fishermen, students, researchers, conservationists, and citizens from local fishing communities come together to celebrate sea turtles, share experiences, and spread the turtle conservation message.

Among those present at the January 26-28 Encuentro Tortuguero was Jessica Torres, from Bahía de los Ángeles, who traveled 300 miles from her tiny fishing village on the Sea of Cortez with a group of fellow high school students, plus middle school and elementary school children, to present the results of their environmental education program. This is the first year that Bahía de los Ángeles has had a high school, and Jessica was a leader in the local group that struggled for years to get it. Her own high school education had been interrupted, so now she was completing it, at age 23, with plans to become an environmental lawyer. This career choice was inspired by her three-year involvement with Pronatura, an organization working for the creation of a marine protected area in Bahía de los Ángeles.

Leading the local student group Jovenes Ambientalistas (Young Environmentalists) de Bahía de los Ángeles for two years taught Jessica about the valuable natural resources of the Bahía. She also learned to create radio spots, write news articles, produce puppet shows, and develop other community-outreach projects focusing on environmental protection for the region. The students produced a play about sea turtles that they took to Guerrero Negro, Santa Rosalía, and Loreto, and are planning to show in other communities. Last year they were thrilled to share their achievements with their peers at the Loreto gathering--especially because when they began their activities, many of their neighbors were reluctant to help protect sea turtles for fear of angering local sea turtle poachers. This year, however, they didn’t get to perform onstage, as the main auditorium was reserved for scientific presentations.

Since it started in 1999, attendance at the annual Encuentro Tortuguero at Loreto has grown sixfold, drawing sea turtle conservationists from all over the Sea of Cortez region, Mexico, California, and as far away as Japan, Hawaii, and Indonesia. When I first attended the Encuentro three years ago, I saw what an important working ground it was, providing an arena for the representatives of sea turtle protection camps and fishing communities to share their accomplishments and difficulties, and to inspire each other. For those of us in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide who directly support sea turtle conservation programs, this meeting provides firsthand information from those who work in the front line.

This year more than 300 people gathered in Loreto’s auditorium, which is also the municipal gym, to listen to researchers talk about their work. Videos and community presentations were assigned to places in Loreto’s central plaza, by the cathedral. There, in a relaxed atmosphere, people could easily approach each other to discuss and ask questions about their work. Simultaneously, the Third Annual Meeting of Children of the Californias for Sea Turtle Conservation was set up a few yards away from the auditorium. The young participants were mostly from Loreto and Bahía de los Ángeles, and under the enthusiastic lead of Graciela Tiburcio and Sergio Román, they engaged in arts-and-crafts workshops, theater, and other activities.

The increasing number of monitoring teams and communities wanting to show their results had led the meeting’s organizers to conceive different strategies to give everyone a chance to speak up. Neither community groups nor children, however, had the opportunity to present their work in the auditorium, as they had done in the past, and many were disappointed by that.

On the main stage, researchers from Instituto Politécnico Nacional (the National Polytechnic Institute) in Mexico City discussed recent studies that showed a link between human leukemia and sea turtle consumption; researchers from Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste (the Center for Biological Research of the Northwest), in La Paz, presented work on the concentration of heavy metals in green sea turtles of the Pacific. Among the many other presenters were guests from Japan and Russia. Four workshops allowed participants to explore issues related to monitoring, data collection, and standardized methods for sea turtle research.

While scientific information is important for conservation, many meeting participants could not help but notice the disappointment of some community members who had traveled long distances with the expectation of an opportunity to present their work. At the debriefing session held at the end of the event, a number of them spoke of a need to reconsider the scope and goals of the Encuentro.

As happens with many successful projects, the Encuentro Tortuguero has come to a crossroads. The organizers are pondering: should they take advantage of the momentum and potential to turn it into a worldwide event where scientists and professionals can gather, or should the event go back to its origins and remain focused on people working on the front line? This is not an easy decision, especially now, when Loreto has been proposed as the venue for the 27th International Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation and Biology.

While hosting this international event can be an outstanding opportunity for Loreto and other communities in the region to meet scientists and receive international exposure, changing the scope and vision of the Encuentro Tortuguero brings the possibility of neglecting the very valuable local human capital that is the key component for preserving sea turtles and the coastal ecosystems they thrive in.

Aída Navarro Barnetche, wildlife conservation program manager for WiLDCOAST/COSTASALVAjE, coordinates community-based marine conservation and education programs throughout the Californias and Latin America.