The Sea Turtle Conservation Program of Tiskita
Seven sea turtle species live in the world's oceans today, and Costa Rica is a major nesting site for three of these: the olive ridley, Pacific greens and hawksbill. Worldwide, the olive ridley is the most abundant sea turtle, but their numbers are declining due to human activity. Part of the olive ridley's diet consists of shrimp, and each year thousands are accidentally caught in the shrimp nets of trawlers and drown. Humans also dig up (poach) nests for the eggs, and on some beaches most of the nests are destroyed each year.
In a small effort to help these turtles, the Tiskita began sea turtle conservation programs in 1995, and in 1996 initiated working with PRETOMA (Sea Turtle Restoration Program of Costa Rica). The conservation program includes identifying species, tallying nests, and relocating them to enclosures to prevent destruction from poachers or predatory animals. Poaching is a serious problem-without relocation, egg theft on Tiskita´s beaches is estimated to have been close to 100% in years past.
Additional goals of this program are the education of children and adults of the local community, and employment in the form of hiring local individuals to gather eggs to place them in protected nests. Children have been invited to see the release of hatchlings with the idea that in the future they too will want to help protect these turtles. Through this program, much valuable data on the region's nesting sea turtles has been collected which has never been done before, and over 50,000 hatchlings have been successfully released to the ocean from the sea turtle restoration program at Tiskita.
If you would like to volunteer with this sea turtle project, please contact us. Volunteers may stay at Tiskita for the cost of room & board + 30% to go directly to the Punto Banco Community Project, or stay with local community members for an approximate cost of $675 for a 2 week stay depending on the timing of the visit.
For more information about sea turtle conservation, please visit PRETOMA.
