Costa Rica Sea Turtle Tagging At Cocos Island
A Costa Rica satellite tagging project recently got underway at Cocos Island to study its green sea turtle and hawksbill visitors.
Conservationists and marine researchers sailed Costa Rica open waters for some 30 hours in their search for migration habits about these ancient marine animals.
Consider what they do as a kind of scientific working vacation in Costa Rica that perhaps will contribute to preserving these marvelous animals now sadly endangered in much of their range.
Cocos Island, once described by the famous explorer, Jacque Cousteau, as the most beautiful island he had ever seen, lies some 340 miles off the Pacific shore of Costa Rica, nearly halfway to the Galapagos Islands.
It was not the tropical palms or beaches that captivated Captain Cousteau. Its beauty is just off its shores, under water, in a place that Costa Ricans have chosen as one of the Seven Wonders of Costa Rica. In those waters one finds incomparable treasure: tremendous numbers of fish, porpoises, whales and turtles.
Sea turtles have been roaming the oceans of the world since the age of dinosaurs. Imagine T Rex feeding on them 200 million years ago when they came ashore to lay their eggs.
These ancient creatures roam all the seas of the world except the frozen Arctic and Antarctic.
These ancient beings swim all the planet's seas except the frozen Antarctic and Arctic.
However, those numbers are no more. Today, man's indiscriminate coastline development 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 remarked that: "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, world conservation organizations have not abandoned hope and are working to restore at least some turtle populations. Conservation groups are now tagging pelagic turtles like the green sea turtle in far-away places like Cocos Island. Some animals are fitted with satellite transmitters while others bear flipper tags to help monitor their migrations and it has been discovered that some species swim thousands and thousands of miles of oceans, from tropical waters to the deep waters off Newfoundland, Canada.
We cannot undo the past but the scientists, researchers, and volunteers who are tagging sea turtles have confidence that the future is yet to be inscribed.
Conservationists and marine researchers sailed Costa Rica open waters for some 30 hours in their search for migration habits about these ancient marine animals.
Consider what they do as a kind of scientific working vacation in Costa Rica that perhaps will contribute to preserving these marvelous animals now sadly endangered in much of their range.
Cocos Island, once described by the famous explorer, Jacque Cousteau, as the most beautiful island he had ever seen, lies some 340 miles off the Pacific shore of Costa Rica, nearly halfway to the Galapagos Islands.
It was not the tropical palms or beaches that captivated Captain Cousteau. Its beauty is just off its shores, under water, in a place that Costa Ricans have chosen as one of the Seven Wonders of Costa Rica. In those waters one finds incomparable treasure: tremendous numbers of fish, porpoises, whales and turtles.
Sea turtles have been roaming the oceans of the world since the age of dinosaurs. Imagine T Rex feeding on them 200 million years ago when they came ashore to lay their eggs.
These ancient creatures roam all the seas of the world except the frozen Arctic and Antarctic.
These ancient beings swim all the planet's seas except the frozen Antarctic and Arctic.
However, those numbers are no more. Today, man's indiscriminate coastline development 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 remarked that: "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, world conservation organizations have not abandoned hope and are working to restore at least some turtle populations. Conservation groups are now tagging pelagic turtles like the green sea turtle in far-away places like Cocos Island. Some animals are fitted with satellite transmitters while others bear flipper tags to help monitor their migrations and it has been discovered that some species swim thousands and thousands of miles of oceans, from tropical waters to the deep waters off Newfoundland, Canada.
We cannot undo the past but the scientists, researchers, and volunteers who are tagging sea turtles have confidence that the future is yet to be inscribed.
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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