Two people were detained in separate incidents during August in Nayarit while illegally transporting nearly 256 sea turtle eggs, reported Roberto Rodríguez Medrano, head of the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA) in the state.
The cases were recorded in the municipalities of Bahía de Banderas and Compostela, where State Police officers detected people acting suspiciously and, after carrying out the corresponding inspections, found the eggs. In one of the seizures, 93 turtle eggs were found, while in the other, 164 eggs were recovered.
The head of PROFEPA highlighted that, unlike other cases in which eggs are recovered after they have already been handled or washed for commercialization, in these two interventions the authorities acted almost immediately. As a result, the eggs still had sand from the nest on them and were in conditions that allowed them to be returned to the sand. They were transported by the agency’s wildlife personnel to a turtle camp in the municipality of San Blas, where they are now awaiting hatching, a process that takes approximately 45 days, in order to determine how many were successfully saved as a result of the immediate intervention.
Rodríguez Medrano added that the compensation for environmental damage does not include only the cost of the egg, which on the black market is worth approximately 20 pesos per piece, but also involves an assessment of the damage caused to the ecosystem by removing the eggs from the nest and putting the hatchlings’ survival at risk. Therefore, in the case involving the extraction of the 164 eggs that were seized, the fine for the person responsible could exceed 70,000 Mexican pesos. In addition, the detained individuals will be subject to environmental damage-repair mechanisms, and the proceedings are continuing before the corresponding authorities.
Source: nayaritnoticias
