Ecobreves – CUBA: Turtles the New Attraction

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

HAVANA, Aug 1 2005 (IPS) - A development plan in the village of Cocodrilo, on the southwestern Cuban Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth), aims to draw ecotourists to one of the most important projects for hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) management in the Caribbean. The sea turtle division at the Cuban Fisheries Research Center will be “one of the leading attractions of this tourist town,” architect Robiel Alvarez, one of the project's experts, told Tierramérica.

The sea turtle population in Cuban waters was calculated to be 110,905 adults at the end of the past decade.

Cocodrilo has just 327 residents, who live mainly from fishing, and ecotourism could become an important new source of income for them.