 | Center for Coastal Studies
April 21, 2006 Academic News This last two weeks we seemed to have improvised a coastal ecologist convention. We had five former, current, or future ecologists on campus within three days of each other. Included were: Gustavo Hinojosa who was interviewing for the Resident Lecturer in Marine Ecology and Mammalogy position; myself, the current coastal ecologist; and former ecologists  Volker Koch, Hector Perez, and Camila Henriquez. Gustavo gave us a very interesting guest lecture entitled Rodoliths and Sea Grasses: Ecology and Conservation. But our celebrities don't stop there. We also had a visit from an interdisciplinary team of five from the National Water Commission (CNA) and northern Baja California University (UABC). They have asked us to join with our water quality research in a major project entitled Integrated Beaches Valuation Model: Environmental Indicators (Ecologic and Socio-economic) as a Basis for Regulation and Sustainable Development. We also visited two protected areas in southern Baja California Sur: the northern most coral reef in North America (Cabo Pulmo) and the Canyon of the Fox within Sierra de La Laguna reserve. In Cabo Pulmo our students got to snorkel and in Sierra de la Laguna they hiked and swam in water holes. They also had a lecture from Hector on Sierra de la Laguna Biosphere Reserve and Management and Edgar gave a guest lecture for the Coastal Ecology class on population dynamics. I led most of the students in a visit to La Paz Aquarium. For the Coastal Ecology class, we had natural history presentations from two students on the sea hare and the tiger shark. We also had field lecture on the rocky reef area of Isla Magdalena. Some of us visited, for the first time ever, the thermoelectric plant. For Principles of Resource Management, students had classes on fisheries interactions with marine mammals and turtles, and our third session of seminars. For Economics and Ethical Issues in Sustainable Development classes, we had lectures on social policy in Mexico, gender issues in fisheries, human dimensions of natural resource management, and institutional analysis. For the theoretical aspects of Directed Research, I gave a class on analysis and interpretation of data. Led by our scientific research assistant, Reuben Baris, one third of our students completed this month's water quality monitoring. Dr. Francisco Ollervides, Center Director Student News We had a great trip to Cabo Pulmo and Santiago and classes were mixed with some much needed recreational time. Cabo Pulmo was beautiful-- we camped right on the beach and went snorkeling in the afternoon. Our time there was short, however, and we packed up and left for Santiago and Sierra la Laguna after one day. A short hike from our campsite led us to a gorgeous fresh water swimming hole where students had class and then got to cool off. It is really starting to get hot here and luckily we have the breeze off the bay to cool us off. The warm weather has been drawing a lot of people to the beach in Puerto San Carlos as they are also on vacation the week of Semana Santa (Easter Week). To conclude the week, we are hosting our Turtle/Water Quality Festival and have been intensely preparing for the event. All of the students have done an awesome job putting this event together and hopefully it will be a great success! Wish you could all be here! Cristina Liberati, Student Affairs Manager Student Reflections After returning to school from our camping trips, we spent the next week preparing for the Turtle/Water Quality Festival. Students spent hours renovating the exhibits in our museum, making banners and invitations, and planning art and  education activities. During Holy Week, locals are more likely to consume turtle meat, which is why the Center holds the festival on Easter Sunday. The pangueros went on an overnight turtle catching expedition in order to have turtles to display to the public during the festival. They caught seven turtles, the biggest of which was 240 pounds, the largest that SFS has ever caught. Many community members came to the turtle festival. The kids had a great time painting shells, coloring turtle pictures, "fishing" for trash and animals in the kiddie pool, and exploring the museum. Everyone enjoyed the performances of children from both Puerto San Carlos and Puerto Magdalena. Paco conducted a public demonstration on turtle data collection and tagging, before we loaded the turtles into the trucks for release at La Curva. The release was an exciting event for students, staff, and community members. With the festival over, we are now focusing more on completing our Directed Research projects. There is still a lot of data to collect and analyze, but we're all looking forward to presenting our results to each other and to the community. This coming week we have a day trip to a nearby oasis, La Purisima, where we'll get to go swimming again and learn about another ecosystem in Baja California. It's hard to believe that we have only two weeks left before we have to leave Puerto San Carlos, but we're trying to make the most of the time we have left. Nicole Naar, Emory University and Marissa Blanco, Yale University We organized the Turtle/Water Quality Festival to create awareness and to avoid the tradition here of eating turtle meat during Holy Week. At the beginning we caught turtles to show people the measurements that we consider to have a register of the turtles in the zone. We prepared games for the kids to teach them the importance of keeping the sea free of pollution and trash. There were singing and dancing performances with people from the town, who brought food like pozole and tostadas. Finally, we released the turtles at La Curva Beach. I feel proud because the people really understand the importance of the environment. A boy told me that in his house they don't eat turtles because he explained to his parents the importance of the turtles in the environment, and that they are endangered. In the end, you see that the things that you do really work and you can say I really am making a better world for everyone. José Antonio Mata Sotres, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana Meet the Students
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