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Dzoara Castro
Dzoara Castro

Dzoara’s professional and volunteer experience working with sea turtles is as follows: 

  • Sea Shepherd, Mexico: She was the coordinator of the Marcelino Campaign. She recruited many volunteers for the partner turtle protection camps and she invited other turtle protection camps to join the collaboration network. 
  • Altepetl, A.C.: She gave awareness lectures to the entire population to try to reduce and avoid the consumption of eggs and turtle meat since it is customary to harvest, consume and kill them for sale. 
  • Nataté, Voluntariado Internacional, A.C., Chiapas: She led groups of international volunteers who worked in turtle camps, serving as interpreter, and representative of the Civil Association, being the link between Civil Association-government-volunteers. She created a manual to improve the experience of the volunteers so they would know in advance the correct handling of eggs, hatchlings, and nesting females. 
  • CONANP’s Playa La Escobilla Sanctuary, Oaxaca: She was a volunteer measuring and counting specimens in arrivals, counting turtles per transect, counting eggs in in situ nests, counting predatory beetles and controlling them through traps, etc., and trained the members of the Cooperative Society El Santuario de las Tortugas on best practices in the management of eggs, hatchlings and sowing in corrals. 
  • SEMAHN, Chiapas: she supported the organization of the 2013 Turtle Festival, which is held every year to raise awareness among the native population and tourists and commemorate the efforts in their conservation and preservation. She was also a volunteer in marine turtle protection and conservation projects in community turtle camps organized by Ayotzintli, A. C., Playa Roca Blanca, Oaxaca; Enlace Ecológico, A. C., Playas de Marquelía y Barra de Coyuca, Guerrero. 

She participated in the First Workshop on Medicine and Rehabilitation of Sea Turtles taught by Dr. Eduardo Reséndiz, UMSNH – House of Culture of Morelia, Michoacán. She was trained in the application of NOM-162-SEMARNAT-2012 in turtle camps taught by Fundación Yepez and Sea Shepherd México. Since 2020, due to the contingency, she has embarked herself on the task of mapping the turtle camps that exist in the country, since there is no specific census or their location. 

Dzoara hopes this research can serve to make the work of the turtle camps visible regarding the SDG 13: Climate action, and 14: Life Below Water; to generate a national platform for specialized and non-specialized volunteering, carry out training aimed at employees of the camps, volunteers and private sector institutions that affect these species due to their activity; standardization of the management of turtles and camps, among other relevant aspects that can serve this task.

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The Eastern Pacific Leatherback Turtle Conservation Network started in 2012 when over thirty researchers, NGOs, and regional experts came together to develop an action plan to stabilize and restore the leatherback turtle population in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
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