A total of 845 paslama hatchlings, an endangered species, were released from two wildlife refuges in Nicaragua into the Pacific Ocean.
The turtles were released from the ‘La Flor and Río Escalante Chacocente’ refuges, in the municipalities of San Juan del Sur and Santa Teresa, where they were born in nurseries, towards the waters of the Pacific Ocean, indicated the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Marena) in a statement.
The release of those 845 baby turtles, which is part of the ‘Together we conserve our sea turtles’ campaign, consists of moving them from the shelters to the beach where they are released on the sand a few meters from the sea.
The Nicaraguan Ministry of Environment indicated that said release of the turtles occurred within the framework of the 2026 Summer Plan and as part of the efforts to conserve marine fauna.
That ministry highlighted that its conservation area guards, along with members of the Nicaraguan Army, were in charge of freeing the turtles and are the same ones in charge of protecting the arrivals of sea turtles.
The turtle nesting activity also had the participation of 291 national and other tourists, and young environmentalists, according to the information.
The wildlife refuges ‘Río Escalante Chacocente and La Flor’, both in the Pacific, annually host thousands of turtles during “arrival season,” from July to January. Well, they are two of the seven places in the world where these species of turtles arrive, among other animals in danger of extinction, according to the ministry.
Any of these beaches can receive up to 4,000 turtles in a single night, according to calculations by the Marena Biodiversity Directorate, which expects that this season about 120,000 turtles will arrive and 1.8 million hatchlings will hatch on the Pacific coast.
After living about 15 years in the ocean, the turtles return to nest on the same beach where they were born, probably on a new or full moon, hence massive arrivals can be predicted, according to authorities, who each year issue a possible calendar of these phenomena.
The commercialization of paslama eggs is prohibited in Nicaragua because it is an endangered species. However, EFE found that some markets, establishments and street vendors avoid this measure.
