Mexico: At least 300 sea turtles have been washed up dead on the Pacific coast in Mexico.
A Mexican environment ministry official said that preliminary examinations suggest the olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) drowned. They were most likely entangled in illicit fishing nets on the high seas or abandoned nets known as ghost nets.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has designated olive ridley turtles as vulnerable. As per the IUCN, their population is declining and they are classified as fragile since they only nest in a few locations.
The turtles were found washed ashore on the beach of Morro Ayuta in Oaxaca, the westernmost state of Mexico. The beach is one of the places where olive ridley turtles lay their eggs.
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Turtle specialist Ernesto Albavera Padilla told local media that all of the dead animals were females.
It is not the first time in Oaxaca that a huge number of olive ridley turtles have been discovered dead. In 2018, fishermen found 300 of them caught in fishing nets.
Sea turtles were forbidden from being captured in Mexico in 1990 and anyone who kills one faces severe punishment. Mexico’s navy would assist environmental authorities in their probe into the deaths of the turtles.
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