A Costa Rica tagging project recently got underway at Cocos Island to study its green sea turtle and hawksbill visitors.
Marine researchers sail Costa Rica open waters for 30 hours or more in their pursuit of knowledge about these ancient marine animals.
Imagine what they do as a kind of working Costa Rica vacation that, hopefully, will contribute to preserving these marvelous marine reptiles now sadly endangered in much of their range.
Cocos Island, once described by the famed oceanographer, Jacque Cousteau, as the most beautiful island he had ever visited, lies some 340 miles off the Pacific coastline of Costa Rica, nearly halfway to the Galapagos Islands.
It was not the tropical sunsets and beaches that captivated Captain Cousteau. Its beauty is just off its shores, under water, in a place that Costa Ricans have voted as one of the Seven Wonders of Costa Rica. In those waters one finds priceless treasure: huge schools of fish, whales, porpoises, and turtles.
Marine turtles have roamed the world's oceans since the age of dinosaurs. Imagine the mighty Tyrannosaurus feeding on them 200 million years ago when they came ashore to lay their eggs on the beaches.
These creatures are found in all the oceans of the world except the Arctic and Antarctic.
These ancient beings are found in all the planet's seas except the frozen Arctic and Antarctic.
Alas, those numbers are no more. Today, man's indiscriminate development along every coast and wanton plundering of their nests have put them at risk. For many years, millions were slaughtered in South America to make stylish Italian combs, and expensive shoes.
Captain Cousteau once presciently remarked: "If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed and if we are not willing to change, we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect."
However, international conservation organizations are working to turn around the decline turtle populations. International treaties relating to sea turtles are now in place, though many countries allow disregard of them. Conservation organizations, scientists, and researchers have begun tagging ocean roaming turtles in far away places like Cocos Island, the Galapagos, Columbia, and other areas. Some animals are fitted with numbered flipper tags while others bear satellite transmitters that are tracked around the clock. It is all part of an effort to monitor their travel patterns.
We cannot undo the past but the people who tag sea turtles have confidence that the future of sea turtles is not yet written.
Marine researchers sail Costa Rica open waters for 30 hours or more in their pursuit of knowledge about these ancient marine animals.
Imagine what they do as a kind of working Costa Rica vacation that, hopefully, will contribute to preserving these marvelous marine reptiles now sadly endangered in much of their range.
Cocos Island, once described by the famed oceanographer, Jacque Cousteau, as the most beautiful island he had ever visited, lies some 340 miles off the Pacific coastline of Costa Rica, nearly halfway to the Galapagos Islands.
It was not the tropical sunsets and beaches that captivated Captain Cousteau. Its beauty is just off its shores, under water, in a place that Costa Ricans have voted as one of the Seven Wonders of Costa Rica. In those waters one finds priceless treasure: huge schools of fish, whales, porpoises, and turtles.
Marine turtles have roamed the world's oceans since the age of dinosaurs. Imagine the mighty Tyrannosaurus feeding on them 200 million years ago when they came ashore to lay their eggs on the beaches.
These creatures are found in all the oceans of the world except the Arctic and Antarctic.
These ancient beings are found in all the planet's seas except the frozen Arctic and Antarctic.
Alas, those numbers are no more. Today, man's indiscriminate development along every coast and wanton plundering of their nests have put them at risk. For many years, millions were slaughtered in South America to make stylish Italian combs, and expensive shoes.
Captain Cousteau once presciently remarked: "If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed and if we are not willing to change, we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect."
However, international conservation organizations are working to turn around the decline turtle populations. International treaties relating to sea turtles are now in place, though many countries allow disregard of them. Conservation organizations, scientists, and researchers have begun tagging ocean roaming turtles in far away places like Cocos Island, the Galapagos, Columbia, and other areas. Some animals are fitted with numbered flipper tags while others bear satellite transmitters that are tracked around the clock. It is all part of an effort to monitor their travel patterns.
We cannot undo the past but the people who tag sea turtles have confidence that the future of sea turtles is not yet written.
About the Author:
Victor Krumm lives in tropical Costa Rica. Please visit his popular site Costa Rica Vacations or check out one of Costa Rica's Seven Wonders Cocos Island
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