World-Mexico: Mexican Sea Turtles Get Armed Escorts in Fight Against Poachers
Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- One of Antonio Diaz's favorite meals isn't on the menu at any restaurant in his hometown of Acapulco, Mexico: sea turtle meat.
``It has lots of vitamins,'' said Diaz, 42.
Fifteen years after the country banned killing turtles, Mexicans such as Diaz keep eating them because of the perception they enhance male virility.
In the past five years, Mexico has doubled the number of police and troops working to save turtles in an effort to protect the animals and their eggs better on the nation's beaches. This month, as the egg-laying season reaches its height, conservation groups are intensifying efforts to save the turtles.
``The consumption of eggs is increasing,'' said Aida Navarro, 30, conservation manager for Wildcoast, a San Diego, California- based environmental protection organization. ``If sea turtles aren't allowed to reproduce, there is no way they can recover.''
About 150 inspectors, accompanied by about 1,000 Navy troops patrol the 28 most important of 200 beaches where sea turtles nest during the height of the egg-laying season, said Luis Fueyo MacDonald, 51, Mexico's senior environmental law-enforcement official for marine life in Mexico City.
Beach Guards
Agripino Cortes Moreno, who commands the 14 environmental officers working with Monica Vallarino, who runs the nearby Hermosa Beach Turtle Camp, said it's impossible to protect Mexico's more than 9,000 kilometers (5,421 miles) of coastline.
``You can see the problem,'' he said, pointing along the beach that stretches into the distance. ``We can't patrol most of it.''
The focus of government anti-poaching efforts has changed since 2000. Before, more em...
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