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Our tagging operations have been supplying important
information about the nesting habits of Chelonia Mydas. We have proved that they travel from cove to cove at times and are
not always returning to one specific location. One of our research partners, Randall Arauz, is tagging at Coco's Island and
the South Nicoya, one of his Chelonia came from the Southern Nicoya and began nesting on our NW Nicoya project. We call
her " Joselen de Coyote" because she came from that area. We also located and filmed another Hybrid Hawksbill in-water,
this has generated some huge interest and we are formulating a plan with other researchers to answer the many questions we
have about this apparent hybridization taking place through DNA analysis of our cohort. We have to give Sam Kerridge
of the U.K. -----A HUGE CHEERS MATE, for the incredible In-Water work he accomplished for STF this season under extremely
challenging conditions, filming foraging turtles and also foraging materials to start off our In-Water mapping of foraging
activities and materials in the area. The social gains we made this year
were monumental, and too complicated to explain here in a short paragraph.The bottom line is that we have brought the artisinal
fishermen and thier villages into the project through a nest bonus program that allows them to have food to replace the eggs
we take control of. The situation in these secluded rural areas is such that most coastal artisinal fishermen are living meal
to meal. By incorporating them into the project and offering a small " nest bonus" they are able to feed thier children
while working for hatchling production in these isolated coves. The reaction from the communities was amazing, we have whole
fishing families working closely with us to monitor and protect these secluded coves now and they are very proud to have a
livelyhood in marine turtle conservation and production. You can feel the difference, it is a revolution for the turtles.
The sponsorship we recieved this year made the difference and allowed us to create this program and run educational programs
in all nesting area schools.We are now looking for the resources necessary to keep this program alive and continue our Eastern
Pacific Green Turtle research. STF began a complete Botanical Mapping of
the critically important 50 meter maritime zone. Robert Weiss of Pacific Slope Environmental is directing
the survey and has completed a preliminary investigation of the plants that are present in our nesting environment. This is
very important to long-term managment and protection of our turtles critical nesting sites. Rob is researching the significance
of primary plants and thier make-up. We found two toxic plants during preliminary surveys -- that can blind you or kill you
if contact is made with the sap, they also create a toxic smoke if burned. The fact these trees are toxic is a good deterent
to the campers that have been cutting and burning illegally in the 50 meter zone. Rob is also becoming a marine turtle managment
technician while working with STF on the Punta Pargos Project and a huge asset on the beach at night. Rob is also our first
sponsor of the " nest bonus" program and made that monumental contribution to our success. He was able to see first
hand while working on the project the need to create new programs and how much it could transform the projects social acceptance
in the area. Knowing conditions on the ground makes it possible to see the changes that can make the most difference toward
accomplishing our goals.Rob is making a big difference for STF. The
STF educational program was a huge success too, 7 schools recieved a presentation about marine conservation and seaturtles,
conservation coloring books and color pencils ( and some T-Man goodies). The theme of Turtleman's lecture was " Why are
Seaturtles Important", a simple message that many people just don't understand. Interacting with the village childeren
also gives us insight as to the level of turtle consumption taking place in these secluded rural schools, it was an education
for STF and also the villages. Check the " Directors Notes" for
more about 09/10 season. We have made a significant difference in the area
this season, even beyond the 10,000 hatchlings we will produce.
 The " Tip of the Spear", this was the core of the team that pulled endless hours on
the beach at night to protect our marine turtle nests. William Aguilar,Jesse Gustafson, Roberto "
Beto" Salazar, Marc Ward, Joseph Beshore. Many others participated during the 2009/2010 season
but this team had the bull by the horns.
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2010/2011 Update: The
2010/2011 season has been very successful with 156 nests secured by 4/30/2011. Many hatches are exiting including our best
Leatherback hatch recovery ever ( 71%) off the first Leatherback nest hatching of the season. STF has tagged 33 nesting Green
turtles on the project this season and had one visiting tagged Green turtle from Playa Buena Vista 53 kilometers to the South
of the Punta Pargos Project ( by water). One of our tagged turtles was also observed nesting at Caletas near the Southern
tip of the Nicoya Penninsula. Average nest egg counts are higher this season and nesting conditions were ideal, combined with
our new artisinal allies and their strong beach prescence, STF managed to secure a record breaking number of eggs ( 10,376)
and a record number of hatchlings produced. The report of this work will be available in June after nesting and hatch reclaimation
patrols are completed. A complete beach profiling was accomplished for all our nesting beaches this winter and computer generated
profiles and sand depths have given us a new understanding of why some areas are so much more successful than other areas
for incubation, upgrading our ability to successfully translocate eggs to a productive location on the beach. Poaching
was at high levels in 2010/11 , reflecting the economic conditions in the nesting areas. STF actually rescued one Olive Ridley
turtle that had been captured while nesting and taken 16 kilometers inland to a village in the foot hills called Wapote (
near 27th de Abril). This gal was going to be turtle soup but somehow managed to escape in the night and head west down the
gravel road. One of our associates Juan De Dios ( yes -- John of God!) found the turtle in a ditch after the turtle escaped
from her captors and had crawled several hundred yards down a gravel road. I don't know how she managed to escape but she
is " Lucky" and Juan found her in a drainage ditch around 5:30am on his way home from work. Juan De Dios called
one of his sisters who called one of our technicians who called our patrol leader who then came and got Marc and Rachel at
the feild station and reported the incident. We wasted no time jumping into the patrol vehicle and bombing out to Wapote where
we found Juan De Dios holding a garden hose over the turtle in his front yard at 6:30am keeping her wet. We managed to reclaim
the turtle and get her back to the ocean by 7:15am before it got to hot out! This is a good example of the networking and
allies we have developed in 12 years on Punta Pargos. This is also a good example of how without protection poaching would
be decimating this marine turtle population.A MINAET investigation insued and we concluded that most likely the poachers were
Nicaraguan. No arrests were made but the incident exposed a problem we need to continue to investigate further and bring under
control. " Lucky" ( the turtle) had a new lease on life and you could feel her excitement when she smelled the ocean
and crawled down the beach into the water to casually swim out in the reef-pass at Playa Negra.
Marine Plastic Research was conducted
at Lagartillo Reef where a marine plastic " sink" condition has been identified in one of the most important marine
turtle foraging areas in Western Costa Rica. 5500 " balls" and " pieces" of monofilamnet fishing line
were collected from the reef. Area A of the survey which is 380 meters of beach had 3050 monofiliment pieces and 400 balls
collected over the 4 month survey --- an amazing amount of monofilament making landfall. Our turtles are coming home to forage
in large numbers at this time -- our divers report unprecedented numbers of foraging adolescent turtles on the reef. Some
of our divers have been working this reef for their whole lives, and report to me they have never in thier lives seen so many
turtles in the reef area foraging, they know this is a sign of our work for the last 9 years and now want to help the project
produce hatchlings. The plastic survey at Lagartillo put Marc Ward in direct contact with all the fishermen and divers working
on Punta Pargos and allowed communication to take place that is essential to effeciency of operations. We removed a total
of 14,146 marine plastic debris items from the reef area and that made the fishermen very happy too. They wanted to know everything
about the turtles and how our production of hatchlings would improve the area, they are much better partners than adversaries
and this communication helps. A you tube vidoeo of our survey is out now that begins to explain the strange dynamics working
at Lagartillo Reef. Lagartillo Reef collects dramatically increased ratios of Marine Plastic Debris and holds the debris in
an area of extreme importance to marine turtle foraging. Marine Plastics are a problem almost everywhere at this time but
when they collect in areas where marine turtles forage the damage is dramatically compounded and these are the areas where
removal of contamination should be focused. We have isolated one of these areas at Lagartillo Reef, a prime area for foraging
of three endangered species and one threatened species of marine turtle, and the most concentrated " marine plastics
sink" we have ever located.
Dr. Hidishige Takada has presented a paper on chemical contaminants in marine
plastic to the 5th International Confrence on Marine Debris, Marc Ward is mentioned as a co-author for his work in Central
America connected to the paper. Dr. Takada has analized the marine debris at the molecular level and answered some of the
questions we had about sorption and desorption of chemicals in plastic and biota. The paper will be coming out in the Marine
Pollution Bulletin, this work illustrates the different types of contaminants in the plastic and the quantities of chemicals
in the debris..
Our full research and conservation report will be coming in June -- but
things are going well for STF and the turtles of Punta Pargos are multiplying and returning to forage as adolescents, now
we just need to make sure and protect their habitat and we will have accomplished the first phase of our project, re-establishing
numbers of endangered Green turtles on Punta Pargos.
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