Olive Ridley Sea Turtles

While global populations are declining, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) reviewed the status of the Olive Ridley in September 2007, and down listed its status from endangered to vulnerable.

Recent global population declines largely reflect a crash of the eastern Pacific population. Three Mexican states, Guerro, Jalisco and Oaxaca, that border the Pacific Ocean in Southwestern Mexico, once hosted large, and now depleted rookeries.

Chacahua, Oaxaca: from 20,000 - 50,000 females in 1974 to 2,042 nests in 2001-2005.

Piedra de Tlalcoyunque, Guerrero: from 20,000 - 50,000 females in 1974 to 608 protected nests/yr in 1997.

Playon de Mismaloya, Jalisco: from 35,000 -100,000 females/yr in 1969-1970 to 2,328 protected nests 2001-2006.

The The Bio-economics of Sea Turtle Conservation and Use in Mexico examines the conflicts between local economic practices and Mexican state policies that contributed to the Olive Ridley population crash.

The authors conclude,

"The regulation and exploitation of the Olive Ridley sea turtle in Mexico is an example of the relationships between public management objectives of conservation and development of economic opportunity, legislative evolution and inertia, and industrial development.

It is particularly noteworthy that the government of Mexico was long aware of the need to have conservation policies for marine turtles. However, providing for economic needs of local communities in the past has also played a large role in shaping the path of exploitation seen in recent years."

© 2007-2010 Patricia A. Michaels