September 8th, 2009
Costa Rica Sea Turtle Satellite Tagging Expedition
Recently, a Costa Rica based research fin and satellite tagging expedition got underway at Cocos Island to map the migration patterns of sea turtle.
Researchers and conservationists sail Costa Rica open waters for at least 30 hours in their pursuit of migration habits about these ancient marine animals.
They are engaged in a kind of scientific working Costa Rica vacation that they anticipate will contribute to preserving these marvelous animals now endangered in much of their range.
Cocos Island, once described by the famed oceanographer, Jacque Cousteau, as the most beautiful island he had ever seen, lies some 340 miles off the Pacific coastline of Costa Rica, nearly halfway to the Galapagos Islands.
It is unlikely that it was the lovely coconut palms or beaches that captured the imagination of Captain Cousteau. Its beauty is found nearby, just off its shores, under water. Costa Ricans have voted it as one of the Seven Wonders of Costa Rica because in these waters one finds incomparable treasure: vast schools and varieties of fish, porpoises, whales and turtles.
Since the days of dinosaurs sea turtles have swum the Seven Seas of the world.
These creatures are found in all the oceans of the world except the frozen Antarctic and Arctic.
Once, the sheer numbers of these marine reptiles were so seemingly without end that lost sailors sometimes found land by listening for sea turtles paddling towards nesting grounds.
Unfortunately , no more. Today, our indiscriminate beach development and destruction of their nests have put them at risk. Millions have been in South America to make stylish Italian shoes, combs, and household ornaments.
Captain Cousteau once famously said: “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.”
But, some governments and conservationists have not given up and are working to restore at least some turtle populations. Researchers are now tagging pelagic turtles like the green sea turtle in far-away places like Cocos Island. Some turtles are fitted with satellite transmitters while others bear flipper tags to help monitor their travels and it has been discovered that some species roam across thousands and thousands of miles of oceans, from tropical waters to the cold and deep waters off Canada.
These taggingvolunteers, scientists, and researchers have confidence that marine turtles can be around another 200 million years but only if men pay more attention to protection than exploitation.
The writer, Victor Krumm lives in tropical Costa Rica. Follow his popular site Costa Rica Vacations and for info about marine turtles check out Sea Turtles