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January 2007
CEA Electronic Communications are in English and Spanish. Para leer este boletín en español, favor de haga clic aquí.
Click on the images to see larger versions.
Happy New Year from the Director
by Paul Sánchez-Navarro
The New Year means many things for many people, but for us at CEA it means working harder to protect the turtles of Akumal, to improve the conditions of the coral reefs in our area, and to shut off the contamination reaching the underground water flowing under Akumal and into the sea. Although there are numerous conservation goals for this beautiful piece of the Mexican Caribbean, suffering the damage of unchecked growth, CEA will focus on improving its monitoring and protection capacity, as well as increasing its education and communication work. We must move closer to finding the secret of harmony between humans and nature, by meeting this challenge at a local level. We'll have to find a way to make it work here so we can serve as a model for other places. This is not easy, but is very possible, with clear goals for the year, a solid team in the organization, and participation from the Akumal community and all our supporters from around the globe.
We will keep you posted throughout the year as we work to implement a Bay Management Plan for Akumal, to protect the magical waters of Yal-Ku Lagoon, to safeguard turtles during the nesting season, and to continue to raise awareness among locals and visitors alike on how to improve our relationship with nature and ecosystems. We look forward to these tasks and hope that you are with us in our efforts. Your contributions will help ensure our success, so please don’t forget to donate when you can. Thank you.
CEA's Second Annual Festival – Save the Sea
Silent Auction and Photo Contest
February 21 and 22
If you are one of the lucky ones who will be in Akumal February 21 and 22, please be sure to join us for our second annual CEA Festival, Save the Sea. In addition to the activities listed below we will have our second annual Silent Auction. We are still accepting donations; look who is already helping. There are some fabulous items to bid on. All bidding must be done in person.
New this year is our Photo Contest. Click here to learn more. We are accepting entries through the January 31.
There will be a number of wonderful activities that will focus on the environment, saving the sea, and exploring where and how we fit in. These activities will include talks, walks, contests, workshops, question and answer sessions, snorkeling tours, face painting, sand sculpturing, and lots more. February 21 includes a cocktail gathering at the CEA Center, followed by drumming and stargazing. February 22 kicks off with an early morning bird walk, a beach clean-up and then we will end the Festival with our Second Annual Gala Dinner at Lol-Ha. This year we are adding a few surprises to the evening as well as dancing! Last year this event sold out, so be sure to make your reservations early.
Reef Monitoring
The Marine and Coastal Protection Program has gone through a few changes over the past several months, has strengthened and is ready to meet the challenges of 2007. The Reef Monitoring Program, which is a component of the Marine and Coastal Protection Program, has been redesigned and the objectives have been updated:-
Develop a long-term monitoring program using the MBRS methodology for regional scale integration; apply other methodologies such as Reef Check or REEF for a larger scale integration
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Form a comprehensive picture of the health of the reef to provide decision makers and the public with accurate data
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Make Akumal a protected area
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Establish collaboration with other monitoring teams in the region
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Train volunteers and Mexican students in fish and coral species identification and monitoring methodologies
An important aspect of these objectives is to have a solid work base to start long-term monitoring to give continuity to the data collection.
A first group of four volunteers for this redesigned program arrived in November. They have been divided in two buddy pairs, one focusing on fish study and the other on corals. Their first four weeks were spent learning the species and the MBRS methodology. Monitoring started on December 15, with an average of three dives per week. We have done one-fourth of the work planned in six dives. Another 18 dives will be conducted before the end of this volunteer session. Once the monitoring on these three reference sites is finished, a descriptive analysis will be made from the collected data to share with you.
Water Quality Program
With the support of the Water Environmental Foundation, on December 13 & 14, 2006, CEA joined in the International Water Monitoring Day. This activity was carried out with ninth-grade students from the Jose Vasconcelos School in Akumal. We gave them a presentation on underground water, and then they learned the sampling methodology. We went to six sites: two in Half Moon Bay, two in Akumal Bay and the other two in South Akumal. They measured temperature, dissolved oxygen, hydrogen potential and cloudiness. Our results showed that these values are within the limits established for recreational bays.
December Art Auction – "The Pleasure of Coffee"
CEA, with Casa de la Cultura de Tulúm, had a silent auction of the artwork, "The Pleasure of Coffee," by Socorro Izquiero Pita, raising $6,500 pesos for the people of the Raíces community, in the Nevado de Toluca in the state of México. The community lost most of its livestock in a hard freeze in December. The artist also donated a painting for our silent auction in our February Festival, Save the Sea. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Monitoring Juvenile Turtles in Akumal Bay
We are pleased to inform you that our new project on juvenile turtles in Akumal Bay is running very well. In December we took blood samples to know more about the health and genetics of the turtles. We also tagged them for future observations. CEA will let you know about the results once we get them.
We thank all those who support this project: Roberto Herrera, Fernando Muñoz Tannery, Ana Negrete, Maria Reynaga, Saulo Herrera, Hamid Rad, Alma Boada, José Galian, Maria Ruiz, Rokhsaneh Jhodayar, Thalia Watmough, Juvencio Bermúdez, David Lawry, Juan Jesús Fernández, Margot and Karen Hendrikse, our boat captains Antonio Moo, Mario Chan, Jose Pech and the Akumal Dive Shop.
Species of the Month: Coati
The coati is a mammal with an agile body, a long, flexible tail, and a long, pointed snout. The ability of these animals to climb and move through the branches of the trees gives them a similar appearance to monkeys. In the indigenous language Kechua they are known as the "sacha monkey," meaning "almost a monkey."
The coati is distributed exclusively in the American continent, from northern Arizona in the United States, through México, Central America and as far south as Argentina. They inhabit the jungle, and they like humid climates and places near water.
Calendar of Events
Beach Clean-Up – Every Monday Morning, 7:30 (weather permitting)
Over the next few months, CEA volunteers will be doing early Monday morning beach clean-ups. If you'd like to join in our work, contact us at the CEA Information Center.
CEA Meditation – Every Full Moon
Please feel free to join us in our meditation focusing on the importance of healthy water. For further information, contact us at the CEA Center, or e-mail us.
Evening Presentations at the CEA Information Center, Tuesday through Friday, at 6:30 p.m. We hope that you will join us to learn more about our work, the important conservation issues of this wonderful place, and your role in helping to protect paradise. Please always stop by to confirm, but the current schedule is:
CEA Presentations in the Lol-Ha Snack Bar – 6:30 p.m.
- Mondays - Living Reefs
- Tuesdays - The CEA Turtle Watch Program
Please continue to tell your friends about CEA! Many CEA Members join after being referred to CEA by people like you. If you have questions about how you can become more involved, please contact us. The Yucatan Environmental Foundation is the U.S. 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor for CEA. All donations made through YEF for CEA are tax-deductible in the U.S.
If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, or simply need to contact CEA, please click here.
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