KempsRidleySeaTurtle_1OutOf1000_Pena_LuisJaime_CorpusChristiTX_20May2021_Reel4055.mp3

Jaime Pena [00:00:00] People do ask why. "Why can't I? I like eating the eggs."

Jaime Pena [00:00:05] And this is a debate that I had in the middle of the beach with people trying to steal the eggs from me. And it's a debate I had with older folks when I was giving presentations.

Jaime Pena [00:00:14] "Hey, I ate the eggs, nothing happens to me. Why, why, why can't I just eat just like a little bit?"

Jaime Pena [00:00:20] And, you know, never antagonize people. Always try to look at it from their perspective because, hey you know what? They think they're right for a reason. You know, you cannot tell them you're wrong because I tell you that you are wrong. No, you have to try and figure out, hey, you know, they're thinking they're right because of this.

Jaime Pena [00:00:38] So I would always try to like, "I understand." And then I would find out more about what's happening. Right. OK, well, you know, you're trying to feed your kids. Like, "Hey, I understand", I said.

Jaime Pena [00:00:50] So we would try to reach a common ground and a middle ground. And I would tell them like, "See, the problem was when you started to sell the eggs. You see, the problem wasn't when you were eating the eggs because you were making bread and drying the eggs, and eating the eggs. But you would get like 100 eggs and you were set for like a whole week."

Jaime Pena [00:01:11] "But then you start picking up a thousand eggs to sell them. Right?"

Jaime Pena [00:01:15] "Well, yes, because I needed the money."

Jaime Pena [00:01:18] "Well, now this is different, now you're making a living off another living thing."

Jaime Pena [00:01:22] And like, "OK, well."

Jaime Pena [00:01:24] So, you know, you try to reach some middle ground and try to explain the lesson, but like in the middle of the beach, this guy was trying to get these extra eggs: "Come on, just give me twenty and you keep the rest."

Jaime Pena [00:01:33] Like, "I can't do that. You can take all of them if you want them. He had a machete on his leg." Like, "Look, I got to the eggs first, so I'm going to protect them all. And I'm not going to give you twenty, no matter how much else. Now if you tell me that you're going to take all of them from me, have at it. I'm not going to to fight with you."

Jaime Pena [00:01:52] "Come on. What's just twenty like?"

Jaime Pena [00:01:52] "Well, see, the thing is that I don't know which twenty I'm going to give you."

Jaime Pena [00:01:56] And I would, then I would sit down with him. Let me tell you what happens here.

Jaime Pena [00:01:59] "So, I have one hundred eggs here. Right? And I'm going to put them in the corral. Right? And I'm going to wait for the babies to be born. Let's say that all the babies that hatch are 100. I get 100 out of 100."

Jaime Pena [00:02:09] "Yeah, exactly!"

Jaime Pena [00:02:09] "Hold on a second. I get the hundred and I put them on the beach and they all leave. Right?"

Jaime Pena [00:02:16] "Which one of them is coming back? Which one of them is going to become an adult? And which one of them is going to become a female? And which one of them is going to survive enough to mate with a male and come back and nest? Which one?"

Jaime Pena [00:02:29] "I don't know."

Jaime Pena [00:02:30] "I don't know either! So I have to protect them all, because I don't know which one of them is going to make it." And I would tell them, "One out of a thousand makes it to adulthood. One out of a thousand. So here, these hundred eggs that I have? Nothing. I mean, they don't have a chance. I have to give the species a chance."

Jaime Pena [00:02:51] "So, really?"

Jaime Pena [00:02:53] "Yes, one out of a thousand. Yes sir."

Jaime Pena [00:02:54] "One out of a thousand? Why, how?"

Jaime Pena [00:02:58] And then I would tell them, "Look, if I'm not here to protect them, and you're not here to poach them, half of them are going to get eaten. The other half come out: half of them are not going to make it because seagulls and crabs are going to take them. And then the ones that make it out into the ocean, here come the fish. And let's say that they make it through the gauntlet of fish, and they reach a little, they become teenagers or adults, here come the sharks. And if they survive the sharks, oh, my Gosh, here come the boats, and so on and so forth."

Jaime Pena [00:03:27] "Do you know which one is going to make it?"

Jaime Pena [00:03:29] And they're like, "Ahh, well, you're right. All right. So not even one?"

Jaime Pena [00:03:34] "No, not even one."

Jaime Pena [00:03:37] So you try to explain to them that, you know, that, that turtles are in trouble, too, you know. So, and that's why the project started helping out by, you know, we're going to hire people from the local towns to, to become field workers and to become field biologists, basically.

Jaime Pena [00:03:54] Because you don't need a degree to do the work. You just need to care for the turtles.