墨西哥海军为濒危海龟站岗放哨

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墨西哥政府近日在南部瓦哈卡州的太平洋沿岸地区部署了不少海军兵力。这些海军的任务不是打击墨西哥贩毒集团，也不是保护国外游客，而是为了给正在那里繁殖的一种濒危海龟-榄蠵龟“放哨”。

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

And I'm Michele Norris.

Mexico has deployed its navy to several beaches along the Pacific Coast. But the move's got nothing to do with fighting drug cartels or protecting tourists. They're protecting an endangered sea turtle. Olive Ridley turtles were once harvested to the brink of extinction.

As NPR's Jason Beaubien reports, the Mexican government has orchestrated a comeback.

JASON BEAUBIEN: This time of year, along a solitary sandy beach in southern Oaxaca, turtles bob in the waves just offshore. And then based on some signal that's not entirely clear to scientists, the females storm the beach. Well, they sort of waddle out of the surf on their flippers but they come ashore by the thousands.

BEAUBIEN: Erika Peralta Buendia, a biologist with the Mexican government, is standing amid the mass of female turtles.

Ms. ERIKA PERALTA BUENDIA (Biologist): (Foreign language spoken)

BEAUBIEN: Practically the whole beach is full, she says. It's three or four kilometers full of turtles, one right next to another. This is La Escobilla, one of the most important nesting grounds in the world for the Olive Ridley. The females are gray, weigh about 100 pounds and their shell is about the size of a tire on a Honda Civic.

BEAUBIEN: Prior to 1990, this beach was a slaughter ground for the Olive Ridley. Sea turtles can't retract their heads into their shells. People would bludgeon them to death and then haul them to Mexico's largest turtle processing plant just up the coast.

Ms. BUENDIA: (Foreign language spoken)

BEAUBIEN: In 1990, Mexico declared a total ban on killing sea turtles, Peralta says. No one can harvest the turtles or their products. Prior to this, turtle byproducts - the meat, the shells, the skins, the eggs - were the second-largest industry for this impoverished region after shrimp. The slaughterhouse used to employ 200 people at the height of the season. But while it was offering jobs, it was decimating the sea turtle population. The Mexican government shut down the plant in 1990, and replaced it with an aquarium called the Mexican Turtle Center.

Professor MARTA HARFUSH (Biologist): This is the peak of the season and that's when we're (unintelligible) thousand turtles (unintelligible) in three of four days.

BEAUBIEN: Marta Harfush, a biologist at the center, says sea turtles are extremely vulnerable for several reasons. First, they only nest in significant numbers on a few beaches in Mexico, Costa Rica, and India. Second, the turtles are only on land when they're born and when they lay eggs. Consequently, they're sitting ducks on the beach. Vultures pluck the soft-shelled babies out of the sand soon after they hatch and a beetle has been destroying their eggshells and people still covet their meat and eggs. Harfush says turtle fat is sold as a cure for the common cold. Turtle meat is still a traditional meal at some weddings. And their eggs are supposed to have sexual powers.

Prof. HARFUSH: They're used in bars or restaurants or not for food. They - a complement of the beer, that's why and they say that it's aphrodisiac. That's why many people sell them.

BEAUBIEN: She says the temperature on the beach can also dramatically affect the turtle population. If the sand during the third week of incubation is 30 degrees centigrade, half the hatchlings will be female and half will be male. But if the average temperature rises two degrees during that period all the babies will be female, she says. And if it falls 2 degrees, all the babies will be males. Prior to 1950, an estimated 10 million Olive Ridley turtles nested each year on Mexico's southern coast. By 1988, just before Mexico banned their harvest, population had dropped to just 40,000. The National Marine Fisheries Service in the U.S. still categorizes the Olive Ridley's that breed in the Pacific as endangered. But Harfush says they have rebounded significantly. Now, just shy of a million Olive Ridleys nest each year, primarily on three beaches in Oaxaca.

Jason Beaubien, NPR News.