San Pancho and Turtle News from Costa Verde Ecological Group Frank D. Smith - Ecological Group of Costa Verde
November 3, 2014

Hola Volunteers, Volunteers, Supporters and Readers ~

October’s surprise:  Despite hurricane Norbert’s waves that all but destroyed the beach nursery, we managed to produce over 11,500 hatchlings, a survival rate of 63%. It seems that nests over a week-old before the waves arrived produced about 80%, while nests that were less than a week-old produced less than 40%. Aside from Norbert damage, dozens of other nests were dug up by a white German shepherd dog that punched several holes through the fence while larvae killed hundreds of others hatchlings inside the nests. Most of the 11,504 surviving hatchlings should be female according to hatching temperatures.

Total nests recorded by the end of October came to 1,151. Of this number, 835 nests were placed in the box nursery and so far producing over 43,259 hatchlings at 85.6% survival rate. The beach nursery received 199 nests and produced 11,504 hatchlings at 63%. The 52 nests relocated to a safer location have not all hatched but the early nests are producing at 87% and 27 nests that were left in their natural state on the beach are also producing at about 87%. The poachers made off with 36 nests or .031%. Total hatchlings released came to about 60,700 by the end of October.

The sundown release of hatchlings in front of town will begin as soon as beach temperatures become too cold to release at the normal hours of between 10:00pm and 4:30am. Hatchlings are cold-blooded and if placed on a cold beach (say, in late November at midnight) they would quickly become the temperature of the sand, around 60°F. At that point, the hatchlings would not be able to move or would move so slowly that crabs and dogs could easily nab them.

October volunteers: Joslin, Starlie and Summer Bertrand, Sophie Subira, all from the USA. Simon Baker from England. Zach Wilson from Australia. Manuel Murrieta from Mexico. Tim Lang, Linda Sorter and Jaya Keating have returned home. Good job team. Well done!

Weather-wise: Daytime temperatures were between the low 90°s and the low 80°s while night time temps were mostly in the 70°s. No outstanding weather events except some high waves from two hurricanes, light winds and a few clouds. Total rainfall for October was 4.15 inches, total for the year is 37.87 inches. The outlet to the lagoon is still snaking its way to the sea making it unsafe for volunteers to cross. Tropical storm Vance, although weak, should arrive in our area Monday/Tuesday, but at this point it is taking the same path hurricane Kenna did on October 10-26, 2002.

In this newsletter we try to summarize the important feature of our marine turtle program, and its major events, since its last publication. There is also a Facebook page which reports on the day to day volunteers activities as well as many photographs. We recommend you use the project's email address grupo-eco@project-tortuga.org regarding important issues dealing with our policies, procedures, technical methods, donations, fundraising, and all volunteer enlistment issues and accommodation, so that we may respond to your communication in an efficient and timely manner.

We had been working overtime to publish the 2015 Homeowners Directory before the end of the month but on October 29th, three toner cartridges failed at once so all printing is delayed until new cartridges arrive from the US around November 7th.

Due to the rising costs of operating our Marine Turtle Program, especially fuel for the dune buggy up to 13.22 pesos/lt., utilities and the cost of producing the directory (printer, paper, toner, toner cartridges), it would be greatly appreciated if you could please pay an increased amount for this year's directory. Thank you very much.

Town and Country-wise: Tourists and snowbirds are now returning into the eager, open arms of the town's merchants. Welcome back! Community crews have cleaned the streets, sidewalks and trimmed vegetation along the main street while other crews have removed tons of debris along the beach several times. Gasoline is about US $3.87 a gallon while the peso at the end of the month was 13.25 per US dollar.

For over five years we have been fighting a losing battle with the dune buggy’s entire front end; suspension system, wheel hubs and brakes. Driving it today is like driving blindfolded across the badlands without a steering wheel. Except for three failed transmissions (all under warrantee) the rest of the buggy has held up well with very few additional problems (fingers crossed and knock on wood!).

Again, we would like to thank all those who sent donations via PayPal. To date we’ve received about $1,240 dollars at a time when we needed it the most. We thank those very much for your generous contributions in trying to save the world: Robert Hepburn, Billie G. Taylor Coaching Services, Brian Culligan, Lawrence Luttrell, Mary Wilson, Natariga Panyawatcharakun, Ronald Walsh, Catherine Losee, Janis Cloutier, and Doug Adams. Please keep the donations coming.

Frank D. Smith, Director
Grupo Ecológico de la Costa Verde, A.C.
Telephone: (311) 258-4100

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