Sadly, this practice has become very common in the area, especially in Playa Hermosa and Playa Tortuga (Ojochal), for which complaints have been made and attempts have been made to inform residents, both national and foreign, placing signs in the vicinity of the beach.

It should be noted that only official vehicles can travel or access the beaches (ARTICLE 133.- Traffic Law. Prohibition of driving on the beaches), so we urge citizens to make their complaints to the local police or to 911, in case you witness this illegal practice that directly affects wildlife, and in this particular case, olive ridley turtles, an endangered species.

Despite these illegal practices, Reserva Playa Tortuga, together with local volunteers and Lifeguards, remains alert day and night, monitoring the beaches of Uvita and Ojochal, during the nesting season, in order to relocate the nests found in a safe environment, protected from poachers, and then release the little turtles in the same place where they were found. This, in order to protect these species, which year after year come to nest on our shores.

For Olive ridleys, a total of 127 nests were found in Playa Tortuga, 157 in Playa Hermosa, 7 in Dominical and one nest from Playa Ventanas, totaling 291 nests. Only 2 nests from the green sea turtles and 2 hawksbill nests were found in Playa Hermosa this season.

Including all the four beaches, nearly 20,000 turtles were released this season! The year was very successful in terms of the number of Olive ridley nests and releases. Sadly, in the case of the green ones, we had the findings of many dead adult individuals on the beaches of the Osa and the central zone of the South Pacific, probably due to red tides. Possibly, this affected the nesting of this species on our beaches this season – said Cyrielle Mayer, RPT Marine Biologist.

We appreciate both local and international volunteers who supported the work throughout this season. As well as the personnel of the RPT who remained alert and coordinated the necessary actions to carry out a management under scientific criteria, with the important participation and collaboration of the local community.

THANK YOU ALL!! SEE YOU NEXT SEASON!

Normally, olive ridley turtles arrive in this sector and recently there were also historical records of Pacific green turtles, so now a new species is added!

The hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) nests on both the Caribbean and Pacific beaches of Costa Rica (mostly on the Osa peninsula) but its current populations are extremely small, and it is an endangered species mainly due to these threats :

the extraction of their nests

the hunt for meat

use of tortoiseshell from its shell

We look forward to continuing the good news during the 2021 turtle season. We appreciate the support of the Costa Ballena Lifeguard, park rangers, staff and volunteers from RPT and the community. And we remind you that those who wish to collaborate with night or morning monitoring at Playa Tortuga or Playa Hermosa can write to rptojochal@gmail.com or call 21013221

Before the sun rose over the mountain, the team of local volunteers and members of RPT were ready to tour the beach.Around 5:00 am one of them spotted a turtle footprint and that was how all were amazed to contemplate and witness the first nesting record of a Pacific Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) in Playa Hermosa.They remained silent and calm in front of such a wonderful experience, so as not to interrupt the nesting process. The fact that they appeared during the day called a lot of attention, since according to the director of RPT, they are quite shy.

Some interesting facts about the Pacific Green Turtle:

• It is a species declared in danger of extinction and the populations of the Eastern Pacific are highly threatened and their numbers are low.
• Many call it Black Turtle since it has a darker coloration than those of the Caribbean.
• They are the second largest turtles in terms of size
• The length of the shell reaches about 89 cm
• They can weigh more than 100 kilos
• They reach their sexual maturity between 25 and 35 years
• It is believed that they can live to be 70 years old
• The biggest threats are: poaching and hunting of nests, the loss of nesting habitats and pollution of the oceans.

It seems important to us to make a call to the neighbors who frequent this beach, since although one part has been committed to the conservation of these species, on the other hand there is misinformation regarding the care that the turtle habitats should have, as is the case of Playa Hermosa.

Although it is a public beach, we must be respectful with the animals that use these same spaces, even more so when it comes to endangered species, so we call to keep pets controlled or on a leash, and not to leave burning fires, since these could be factors that would affect the nesting of a Turtle.We invite the community to continue working together, especially as it has been done this year.

Photos by Felipe Thomas

Please have a look at this article that shares very interesting facts about the sea turtles population and what are the most common factors that are threatening them.

The TOP 7 Volunteer Projects in Sea Turtle Conservation

Here’s the extract:

1. Playa Tortuga Conservation Volunteer Project, Costa Rica

“Our visit to the Playa Tortuga project was fantastic. Oscar and all the staff were great, and we were able to be involved with all the projects currently going on at the reserve.” – The Chicco Family, July 2019

Volunteering at this project in Costa Rica will expose you to life at a biological research station in a tropical rainforest reserve. Volunteers will take part in sea turtle research, crocodile monitoring, mammal surveys, tree boa studies, environmental education and butterfly garden projects all year round.

Why this project made our list; This research project in Costa Rica experienced another great year with volunteers in 2019, receiving lots of brilliant feedback from solo travellers and families alike. They manage to accommodate everyone on their journey to this biodiversity hotspot of Central America, where volunteers love that they have the opportunity to help actively with the scientific and conservation-related research on a broad range of animals.

Click here to see the full article. 

If you live in the Costa Ballena area and want to join the night monitoring, we invite you to participate in any of the two workshops that will be held at the Reserva Playa Tortuga station, on July 1st and 2nd, from 5 to 7 pm. On July 1 st the workshop will be in English and on July 2nd, will be in Spanish.

Some of the topics that will be discussed are: sea turtles biology, species, beach monitoring protocol, nesting sea turtles management and hatchery work.

If you really want to participate during the beach monitoring, please assist to this workshop and help us to keep protecting sea turtles. Please note that the beach night monitoring is for adults only. We will wait for you!

The coordinator of the Environmental Education & Outreach project, Melissa Jiménez-Kardentay, shares some thoughts about the last Summer Club, carried out between January 14th until the 31st.

After 3 weeks at full power with the guys from the camp we finished our Summer Club 2019 and we want to give an special thanks to the Food Bank, Cleveland High School Students in NC, Life Project Education, drivers for kids every day and the different donors for making it possible for these boys and girls have an experience of hand with Nature, alive, acting and choosing for nature and its conservation.
Grateful to the parents who entrust us one more year to establish environmental values in their sons and daughters.
See you the next year!

© Camille Baile

A total of 164 hatchlings started their journey across the oceans. In case any of these hatchlings survive and if they are females, they will return to this same beach to nest, approximately in 25 to 30 more years.

Unfortunately the statistics are not very favorable for the conservation of this and other species of sea turtles, of which only 1 in 1000 will reach maturity. The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) is sadly famous, because it is the most endangered species of sea turtle in the world.

The Olive Ridley turtle is in danger of extinction due to various factors, some natural, such as predators, but there are other external factors, of which the human being is responsible, such as the commercialization of eggs and turtle meat, and all the pollution. All the garbage that we generate every day, especially the plastic, come in one form or another to the oceans, directly affecting not only the sea turtles but all the species that live in the sea.

©Lainneker Sanchez

We invite you to help in the conservation of the Kemp’s ridley turtle and prevent it from passing to the sad list of extinct animals; to participate actively in cleanings of beaches and rivers that are organized in the different areas; to eliminate or reduce the use of plastic; to recycle; to denounce the illegal sale of turtle eggs, etc. Every effort, however small it may seem, counts!