Sea Turtle Conservation WIDECAST Costa Rica - Volunteer or Resarch Assistant

In beautiful Costa Rica, there are 2 opportunities for individuals interested in volunteering with a sea turtle conservation effort. The main focus here has been community-based sea turtle conservation programs on the Caribbean coast. But, also in-water studies of a foraging area of sea turtles on the Osa Peninsula is run.

Pacific Coast

Peninsula de Osa – In-water studies: This project is located just north of Puerto Jimenez on Playa Blanca. WIDECAST discovered in 2010 a sea turtle foraging area in the Dulce Gulf. Since then, this project combines boat trips to conduct in-water studies, a rescue center for sea turtles, a mangrove reforestation project and a support of the local blue flag group. This generates a lot of different duties: beach cleaning, reforestation work, helping in the rescue centre, and twice a week, there will be boat trips to conduct research on the in-water sea turtle population. Project staff and volunteers go with a boat to the capture site and use a net to catch sea turtles, mostly Pacific Green Sea Turtles but also the rare Hawksbill’s. If one is caught, it’s brought into the boat to take:

• Biometric data of the turtle.
• Tissue samples to examine the mitochondrial DNA to reconstruct the lineage of the females.
• Blood samples to analyze the physical condition of the sea turtle and to look for differences in the females between nesting and feeding period.

Before releasing them again, they will be tagged for monitoring.

There is little known about the Dulce Gulf and its inhabitants, surrounded by a lush and magical nature where you can find, macaws, monkeys, dolphins, and sometimes even whales and whale sharks!

Caribbean

Project Pacuare: This project is in the north of Limón (Capital of the Caribbean Province of Costa Rica), 1km northwards of the Pacuare River. The main problem addressed here is the poaching and hunting of nests and nesting females. Therefore the project combines night beach patrols, hatchery work and a rescue centre for sea turtles. The duties of the volunteers are patrolling the beach at night, hatchery shifts and beach cleaning, maintenance work and helping at the rescue center like nursing sea turtles or cleaning tanks. The project is open year-round. February to July: Leatherback Sea Turtles and June to November: Green and Hawksbill Sea Turtle. Even though there is no nesting in December and January, there are still a lot of tasks to fulfill. The night patrols encounter poachers frequently, but the project is running a strictly non-confrontational policy. The presence of volunteers and staff regularly deters poachers. The project site is rather remote, without electricity and must be travelled to by boat (US$ 35 per person). Through the close involvement with the very remote village of the area, this sea turtle conservation project provides not only a unique opportunity for volunteers to experience a true community-based Costa Rican conservation project but also legal and sustainable revenue to the community.

For the upcoming sason we are also searching for Research Assistants. For more information just send us an email to volunteers@latinamericanseaturtles.org