Isla Mujeres, Q.R. — Isla Mujeres Mayor Atenea Gómez Ricalde says the island’s turtle farm has been recovered. In a statement, Ricalde reported that a Destination Agreement was achieved in favor of the municipality of Isla Mujeres.
She says the agreement, which is a first stage, was obtained by federal authorities. “A Destination Agreement is the instrument through which the use and exploitation of the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zones is granted to public institutions,” she explained.
“The federal zone of Tortugranja, a place abandoned by the past administration, has been recovered, but this is just beginning. Efforts will continue to be made to recover the other two properties in the place. It will be a place that will never be closed again because it will be for the benefit of the islanders,” she reported Friday.
Photo: H. Ayuntamiento de Isla Mujeres June 16, 2023.
“It will never again be the petty cash of some government like the last administration. It will be a place of preservation and conservation practices, of studies for biologists, of love for the marine ecosystem,” she said referring to the 1,798 square meter property.
She thanked the head of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources at the federal level, María Luisa Albores, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Governor Mara Lezama, for the management of the Destination Agreement.
So far, one pen has been recovered and opened at La Tortugranja. She says it will be rehabilitated since the current one located on Playa Media Luna had to be adapted when the Tortugranja was closed and thus not lose the nests of this endangered species, which is already at 70 percent occupancy.
Photo: H. Ayuntamiento de Isla Mujeres June 16, 2023.
“The private properties that are within these facilities will be searched, when presenting property payment irregularities, as well as the part that the National Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture occupied of the facilities, a process that takes time,” she added.
