Mexico Stops Hotel Construction Near Sea Turtle Nesting Beach

September 20, 2018

Environmentalists in Mexico have stepped in to protect one of the most important sea turtle nesting beaches in the Caribbean.

The Mexican government has denied permits to build a 520-room hotel, which would have erected twenty-three buildings and an artificial lake just inland from the Xcacel beach, north of the resort of Tulum.

The Federal Environment Department said in statement the project could threaten Xcacel, and called it "the site with the largest observed nesting of sea turtles on the entire Yucatan Peninsula."

The beach is a nesting area for loggerhead, hawksbill and green sea turtles.

Worldwide, six of the seven sea turtle species are classified as threatened or endangered due to human actions and lifestyles, which include poaching, fishing, and plastic.