Hi there my Steemit friends and followers!
So far, I have been mostly posting positive news from Mexico related to conservation and wildlife protection. One of my very first posts here on Steemit was about a new marine reserve created around the Baja California Peninsula and I was also very happy to inform you that Mexico banned dolphinariums in this post.
Today, however, I have to inform you about a very sad and shocking incident that happened in my beloved Mexico just a few days ago. Approximately 300 turtles (mostly the olive ridley sea turtle) were found dead off the coast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, trapped in illegal fishing nets.
Image source: The Daily Edge
May to September is when numerous turtle species come to the Mexican coast to lay their eggs and this is what these turtles were probably hoping to do but instead, they ended up dying in extreme pain because of ruthless and totally irresponsible behavior of some humans.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons)
I have been privileged to swim and snorkel with green sea turtles many times when we were living in Mexico and that was when I created a very strong bond with these amazing sea creatures, so to me, this news was absolutely heartbreaking.
I hope this incident (and it is actually not the first incident of this kind in Mexico) will result in new measures against illegal fishing and possibly even new laws. Sea turtles have been around for about 150 million years (from the late Jurassic) - incomparably longer than us - and we have to do all we can to make sure these majestic marine animals can live peacefully in their natural environment.
You can find out more about the latest incident in this article.
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