Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - After only about a month since the sea turtle nesting season began in Puerto Vallarta, the municipal government's Department of Environment and Ecology has already collected 223 nests comprising around 22,331 sea turtle eggs.

Juan José Navarro Amaral, the head of the agency, said the average time for the eggs to hatch is approximately 45 days, which means they expect to begin releasing the baby turtles in mid-August.

"This is possible thanks to the program that we have for the Protection of the Sea Turtle, which includes activities like night tours for localization and collection of the nests and hatchling release, which complement the awareness and efforts that we make throughout the year to make the people of Vallarta aware of the importance of the conservation of the species," said the city official.

Surveillance tours begin at 10 pm each night, from Boca de Tomates to Boca de Tomatlan, search for nests or nesting turtles. In order to protect them, the nests are carefully collected and transplanted into the Department of Environment and Ecology's nesting corral on Holi Beach.

"On July 31 we had our first training session for volunteers who want to participate in the turtle protection tours under the Vigilante Tortuguero (Turtle Watchers) program," said Juan Jose Navarro.

The municipal official said that if you see a turtle nesting, you should report it to the Department of Environment and Ecology, via telephone 322-160-3279, or the Medio Ambiente Puerto Vallarta Facebook page. (Where you can also get volunteer information.)

It is recommended that you maintain a minimum distance of 10 meters from the nesting turtle, do not shine light directly on, nor take flash pictures of, the turtle because that could disturb her and make her return to the sea without laying her eggs, which affects her health.

Once the turtle has laid her eggs in the sand and made her nesting bed, avoid stepping on the area as it makes it hard for the mother to find her way back to the nest, plus it could compact the sand and prevent the hatchlings from leaving the nest. (If the nest is not found and transferred to the city's nesting corral.)