Date: July 16, 2024
Author: GroBios A.C.
Postulated by: GroBios A.C.

Mr. Javier Mayo Huerta is originally from La Bocana beach in Marquelia, state of Guerrero, Mexico. He had his first contact with sea turtles in 1975, when three or four sea turtles arrived at the place every 100 meters of beach, he tells us with melancholy.

His love for nature and his interest in doing something for the conservation of turtles started when he worked as a volunteer forest firefighter in the United States of America. That is when he became interested in doing something for his country and upon returning to Mexico in 2000, he began working on the protection and conservation of sea turtles, promoting pioneering projects in the Costa Chica region, especially on Las Peñitas beach in the municipality of Marquelia, Guerrero.

With great enthusiasm he promoted the creation of the first camp on Las Peñitas beach, not satisfied, he proposed to promote a second camp in Barra de Tecoanapa, and without fear of failure he ventured to establish a third on La Bocana beach, the Las Peñitas beach camp It is called “El Sirenito Macho”, and the name arises because when his eldest son was little, on one occasion he saw how Javier was preparing to go out alone and told him that he wanted to accompany him, but Javier could not take him. Since he did not have authorization due to the nature of the camp permits, because of this his son got angry and said: “Come on, Sirenito Macho”, when he returned carrying the nests, he was thinking about this peculiar phrase of his son, and just like that , the name of the camp El Sirenito Macho was spontaneously born.

Mr. Javier shares with us that it was difficult to begin work aimed at the conservation and protection of sea turtles; the looting of eggs had become the main source of income for several families in the area, which even led him to receive threats on several occasions. At the beginning, he was unaware that in order to work, documentation and permits for the conservation of sea turtles were required, and he discovered it thanks to the fact that on one occasion the Mexican navy visited him to request that he present the relevant documentation to work and Javier did not have it this case, because he was only interested in conserving and protecting sea turtles spontaneously and with disinterest, but, quick to understand the situation, he immediately took on the task of formalizing his documentation to not lose the opportunity and continue working on the beaches and in the camps created.

They began the work for the first 4 to 5 years doing the tours on foot, then they obtained an ATV to patrol in a better way; in 2007 they lived the year that was called the year of the leatherback turtle, since there were very large arrivals on the Pacific coasts. The work carried out by the El Sirenito Macho turtle camp has been very difficult and intense, because from the beginning it was necessary to make people aware of the consequences of what was being done, because the population was dedicated to exploiting sea turtles drastically reducing its population. Currently the situation has changed a lot, thanks to the hard work that has been done in the camps and also due to direct contact with the community and work with schools, all of this has greatly improved the issue of conservation and protection of a species as important as the leatherback turtle.

For all that effort and selfless passion in working for the survival of sea turtles for so many years, Mr. Javier Mayo Huerta is considered a Hero in the conservation of the Leatherback.