In occasion of the Tree Day, and in what is already a tradition in Xel-Ha, a group of celebrities raised their voices for the care of the planet with a simple principle in mind: “Plant a tree in every important moment of your life”. The journalist Lolita Ayala, the actors Alfredo Adame, Alexis Ayala and Betty Monroe, as well as the professional wrestler “The saint’s son”, among others, were present.
The event took place in the Chacah’s Garden, where dozens of show business personalities as well as communicators, actors, musicians and sportsmen have planted little Chacah seedlings and left them in Xel-Ha’s Family custody for their safekeeping.
Each one their own way, wrote a message to humanity together with an invitation to make of planting trees a constant activity in everyone’s life, for this contributes to restore damaged ecosystems.
Engineer Oscar Constandse Madrazo, on behalf of the Xel-Há Board of Directors thanked to celebrities for their assistance to this event and for joining to a noble movement: creating awareness for the care of nature, and being environmentally responsible citizens.
QUEEN CONCH PROTECTION
Supported by Fundación Televisa, celebrities also took part in the sampling, selecting, measuring and weighting of queen conch exemplars which inhabit Xel-Ha’s inlet and sent a message inviting society to respect closed season and avoid the excessive consumption of this mollusc, which is in danger of extinction.
By doing so, celebrities, and “Televisa Verde” partook of the movement supported, for several years now, by the Research and Advanced Studies Center a href=”http://www.cinvestav.mx” target=”_blank”>(CINVESTAV-IPN) Merida, and supervised by Dr Dalila Aldana, who thanks to this project has been recently awarded with the Ecological Merit Prize, by the President of the Republic Felipe Calderon Hinojosa.
The Queen Conch (Strombus Gigas) has been declared by the International Union for Nature’s Conservation as a Commercially Threatened Species. In Mexico, they are located along Yucatan and Quintana Roo coasts. Due to the decreasing population of the conch, by the eighties, queen conch’s fishing was banned in Yucatan.
In Quintana Roo, there is a closed season from May to October, for individuals with a minimum capture size of 20 cm, and a 30 tons capture fee for Banco Chinchorro, and 12 tons for Cozumel, as well as a limited concessions issuing. However, the queen conch is over exploited and in some areas it has already vanished, for it has suffered an intense and illegal capture, and conch meat can be found in markets and restaurants throughout the year.
In order to resist this situation, an environmental educative program is being held, to create consciousness on society about protection and rehabilitation of the specie. Xel-Ha promotes the conservation of the queen conch, by protecting adult, reproducing population, and young individuals with a good survival and growing rates, hence it is considered a sanctuary for the queen conch.
Xel-Ha is also a training center for elementary and middle school teachers, enrolled in the Mesoamerican Reef Program, which sensitizes and brings up to date all teachers on this quandary, so they contribute, from their classrooms, to a greater awareness among young population.
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