Wednesday 27 April 2011

The latest from April...

Saludos a todos! Hope that all of you are well...

Apologies for skipping a month of news here on the blogsite, we aim to keep you updated with all that happens in the Akazul camp and will endeavour to keep this page updated on a monthly basis so please come back and keep checking.

Lots to report from our side... Scott & Sarah represented Akazul at the 31st Annual International Sea Turtle Symposium in San Diego at the beginning of this month and the Akazul word has been well and truely spread with new contacts and supporters being made... a very successful symposium- we hope the start of many more!

Semana Santa has descended heavily on all beaches across Pacific Guatemala, some 5000 visitors have come to the usually sleepy village of La Barrona which is 5000 times more the usual garbage dumped on the beach, obviously terrible for the surrounding environment, the ocean especially... some of the locals have stepped up and organised a beach cleaning crew which should get the place looking back to normal. A step in the right direction and hopefully the beginning of regular beach cleaning... watch this space.



I've saved the best news till last... amazingly within weeks of our last stranded Hawksbill turtle, another juvenile has popped up in the river close to La Barrona! This time the turtle was brought in by a local fishermen who spotted her in the river and was completely healthy and released immediately. This has amazing implications for the importance of Guatemala as a foraging ground for juvenile Eastern Pacific Hawksbills as several have been found stranded on the coast in the last few years, and for sure many more show up but go unrecorded. Akazul have been in contact with the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Inititative (ICAPO) and we hope to start working with them soon... very exciting times and we will keep you posted on how this develops.