Mexico evacuates sea turtle eggs from beaches as Hurricane Beryl heads toward Yucatan Peninsula

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) — Stung by past failures in hurricane preparedness, the Mexican government on Wednesday began evacuating even sea turtle eggs from beaches ahead of arrival. Hurricane Beryl.

Although Beryl remains far from the coast in the Caribbean near Jamaica, it is expected to make landfall somewhere south of Cancun late Thursday or early Friday.

Given that Mexico did so little to warn or evacuate residents of the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco, during Hurricane Otis in OctoberThis time authorities are being extra cautious, digging up recently laid sea turtle eggs for fear they could be washed away by the storm.

Government officials kept sea turtle eggs covered in sand in dozens of coolers while moving them to safer locations.

In other areas, they used sandbag barriers to create safe “corrals” to protect turtle nests from the expected strong waves.

Biologist Graciela Tiburcio, one of Mexico’s top sea turtle experts, said it was an extreme measure that could cause excessive failure of turtle eggs to hatch.

“Look, it’s not the best thing to do, but we are facing an emergency where if they are not removed, everyone could be lost,” said Tiburcio, who was not involved in the effort.

Several species of sea turtles come ashore in and around Cancún to lay their eggs in the sand, where the hatchlings will emerge a few weeks later and crawl out to sea. Normally people are advised not to disturb the nests, as the sand keeps them at the ideal temperature for hatching.

Furthermore, it is believed that sea turtles use the natural light on beaches to find their way around and, in many cases, return to the same location after becoming adults.

But Beryl’s waves and storm could simply sweep them out to sea, where they couldn’t hatch.

“In a normal situation this would not be correct, because it will certainly cause mortality,” said Tiburcio. “There will be a lower rate of eggs hatched, that is the reality. But it is also a reality that if the nests are left there, they will all be lost.”

Cancun’s municipal environment department did not immediately respond to requests for comment about where the turtle eggs were being taken to be stored. But in a post on social media, the office said it had unearthed more than 10,000 eggs from around 93 nests.

Carey turtles, like all sea turtles, are protected species in Mexico and it is prohibited to remove their eggs – which have already been widely consumed.

It’s not just the turtles: further south, on the Caribbean coast, in the fishing village of Punta Allen, soldiers, police and marines were putting strong pressure on the 700 inhabitants to completely evacuate their homes.

Punta Allen is located on a narrow strip of land south of the resort of Tulum.

A Punta Allen resident who asked to remain anonymous said many residents, about half the population, were resisting calls to evacuate.

“They are asking everyone to leave Punta Allen… but people don’t want to leave,” she said. “They don’t have money and they don’t want to leave their assets.”

Additionally, the woman said, the government offers free one-way transportation but does not give people rides after the hurricane passes.

Many in Mexico have long distrusted the government’s disaster preparedness efforts because authorities often fail to enforce zoning and safety rules and do little before storms.

Acapulco is still struggling to recover after being hit by Category 5 Hurricane Otis in October. Otis left at least 52 people dead and destroyed or damaged most of the hotels.

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