Two hawksbill foraging hotspots with high turtle densities.
Along the western coast of the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, local fishermen helped identify critically important hawksbill foraging habitat around islands near Baja California Sur’s capital city of La Paz.
In Espiritu Santo island, the monitoring has been carried out by Grupo Tortuguero de las Californias in collaboration with park rangers.
Fishers from El Pardito island continue to play a key role in monitoring this site and the estuary at San José island, collaborating closely with researchers from the University of California at Santa Cruz and the local nonprofit Niparajá. Currently, monitoring includes the use of acoustic and satellite tags and the deployment of video cameras for a better understanding of their movements and habitat preferences.
These two sites have the records of the largest hawksbill sea turtle individuals, at least in the western coast of the Gulf of California, which represents a big hope for the recovery of the species.
- Work with local fishermen to monitor foraging hawksbills.
- Identify as many individuals as possible using flipper tags.
- Identify habitat preferences of foraging hawksbills using acoustic and satellite telemetry in El Pardito, Espiritu Santo and recently in Cabo Pulmo.
- Develop protection measures to ensure no illegal fishing in hawksbill hotspots.
- Assist with protected area management.