Barreras del medio rural y alternativas sostenibles para la conservación de la tortuga marina en la Comunidad de Escobilla, estado de Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract

The turtle was a very precious fishing resource on the coast of Oaxaca, firstly for its coveted skin and, secondly, the industries took full advantage of the turtle as a resource. Fisheries began to overexploit their populations, even threatening the survival of the turtle species that nest on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca. For this reason, fishing all species of sea turtles was banned in 1990. After this measure, the thousands of families that depended on the use of the chelonians were left unemployed, since they had no other way to obtain economical resources.

The survey was set up specifically in the community of Escobilla (Oaxaca, Mexico), a community that borders the Escobilla Beach Sanctuary, a place that has special importance for the reproductive cycle of the turtles, since it has more than one million annual nesting. Olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), which spawns massively thus producing a unique phenomenon called arribada, which only occurs on a few beaches around the world.

The way which it is intended to support the inhabitants of Escobilla to conserve their sea turtles it is to diversify their sources of income, considering the characteristics of the community. The only cooperative formed in Escobilla is taken as a reference: the Cooperative Society "El santuario de las tortugas Escobilla" and the influence of the Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga (CMT) in the community has been analized too.

Finally, the study concludes with several proposals for the sustainable development of the community, which are adapted to the conditions, interests and opportunities of the area with which it is expected that the hunting of the turtle and plunder of its eggs as an economical resource of families