Leatherback Trust
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The Leatherback Trust is a non-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation and research of sea turtles, with special regard for the leatherback sea turtle [1]. The Leatherback Trust was founded in 1992 to help raise support for a proposed national park in the Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica. Contained with the proposed park would be Playa Grande, Playa Ventanas, and Playa Langosta; three of the most important nesting beaches in the Pacific Ocean for the critically endangered leatherback turtle. Following the successful implementation of this national park, Las Baulas National Marine Park or in Spanish Parque Marino Las Baulas, The Leatherback Trust began to support other sea turtle conservation initiatives throughout Costa Rica and also internationally. The Leatherback Trust currently supports conservation projects for the leatherback, green and olive ridley sea turtles in Costa Rica; leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles in South Africa; loggerhead sea turtles in Greece; and hawksbill sea turtles in the US Virgin Islands.
Las Baulas National Marine Park
With the support of The Leatherback Trust, Las Baulas National Marine Park was decreed in 1991 and officially confirmed by law in 1995 [2]. Prior to the creation of the park almost 100 % of all the sea turtles eggs laid in the region were poached, but now poaching has been effectively ended [3]. To achieve this, former poachers were trained as eco-tour guides who take paying tourists to see nesting sea turtles. Las Baulas National Marine Park now hosts guided sea turtle tours over the entire leatherback sea turtles nesting season, which spans from October until March. The Leatherback Trust has also recently embarked on a local environmental education program. This program aims to raise support for Las Baulas National Marine Park through education and community involvement.
Outreach Initiatives
Two of the most successful public outreach programs cosponsored by The Leatherback Trust were The Great Sea Turtle Race and Cheer For The Turtles. The Great Sea Turtle Race used data from satellite tracked leatherback turtles leaving their nesting beaches at Playa Grande and heading to their feeding areas south of the Galapagos Islands. Using the tracking date a hypothetical race was staged between the turtles, with the winner being the turtle who reached the Galapagos Islands first. The race occurred during 2007 [4]. Cheer For The Turtles used data from the nesting leatherback turtle monitoring program conducted yearly at Playa Grande. Over the duration of the 2010/11 nesting season, weekly updates were provided on the nesting status (e.g. number of eggs laid per nest, number of nests etc…) of the first 6 turtles that were encountered that season. This information was adapted into an informative narrative that was accompanied by a sea turtle biology fact-sheet [5].
References
- ^ http://www.leatherback.org. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
- ^ Spotila, J.R., Paladino, F.V. (2004) Parque Marino Las Baulas. In Biodiversity conservation in Costa Rica: learning the lessons in a seasonal dry forest by Frankie, G.W., Mata, A., Vinson, S.B. University of California Press.
- ^ Santidrián Tomillo, P., Saba, V.S., Piedra, R., Paladino, F.V., Spotila, J.R. (2008) Effects of illegal harvest of eggs on the population decline of leatherback turtles in Las Baulas Marine National Park, Costa Rica. Conservation Biology 22: 1216 – 1224.
- ^ http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/leatherback-race.html#cr. Retrieved 10 September 2012.</
- ^ http://goldringmarinestation.org/Goldring/CheerForTheTurtles.html. Retrieved 10 September 2012.</