WiLD Blog

A big thanks to Fay Crevoshay and Aida Navarro and of course our gran amigo Jorge Campos for launching this spectacular campaign today in Acapulco with the heroic sea turtle defenders of Mexico. Serge 

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE 

Jorge Campos launches campaign to save marine turtles
 The Associated Press

Published: October 27, 2006
ACAPULCO, Mexico. Mexico’s former star soccer player Jorge Campos, teaming up with environmentalists in this Pacific coast resort, launched a campaign Friday to protect Mexico’s endangered marine turtles.
 
 Campos, who was the assitant coach for Mexico’s 2006 World Cup team, called on President-elect Felipe Calderon, who takes office Dec. 1, to dedicate more resources to protect marine turtles along the coast of Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.
 
 ”Turtles are worth more alive than dead,” he said, adding that the turtles could draw millions of tourists to the region.
 
 Mexico is a major nesting area for several species of sea turtles, which are protected by law. Harvesting or selling their eggs is a criminal offense, punishable by up to nine years in prison and fines.
 
 Still each year, officials seize thousands of turtle eggs at Mexican markets. The eggs are considered a delicacy.
 
 Fewer than 1,000 adult female leatherback turtles are left in Mexico’s Pacific range, down from an estimated 70,000 to 90,000 in 1980, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The Los Cabos area is the one of the most urricane vulnerable regions of North America. But you wouldn’t know if from the incredible amount of flood prone development there. There  is a reason the Spanish created missions uphill from floodplains. The Los Cabos and Baja California Sur government by permitting so much bad development in so  many flood prone areas has increased the risk of flood damage  and the loss of life. Serge

TROPICAL Storm Paul lashed Mexico’s Baja California peninsula with rain and winds today while high waves washed a US tourist from a beach resort.

The military, police and civil protection workers began evacuating some 1500 people from poor housing as the storm took aim at the Los Cabos resort, popular with foreign visitors for its golf courses, yachting and sports fishing.

A large wave swept away a US tourist from Washington state who was walking on the beach at Los Cabos.
“He is considered missing. It would be very difficult for him to be found alive,” said firefighter Gabriel Garcia.

Paul faded to a tropical storm from a hurricane, with winds near 75km/h.
The storm was about 210km southwest of Los Cabos and was expected tomorrow to sweep close by the resort, made up of the towns of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, before moving across the Sea of Cortez and hitting the mainland state of Sinaloa.

Authorities shut the Cabos San Lucas port, frustrating sports fishermen who converged on the resort this week for a major competition involving up to 200 boats. The resort escaped serious damage from two hurricanes earlier this year that veered away at the last moment.

Mexican residents of the Tierra y Libertad shantytown district followed the news, concerned the dried-up creek bed where they live could be drenched by flash floods as often before in storms. “It’s scary,” said resident Maria Mariano Reyes, who lives in a flimsy shack.

“Water comes in from both sides of the house and we’re stuck in the middle,” she said. Police drove around endangered areas asking people by loudspeakers to leave their homes and go to shelters.