Illegal turtle egg harvest in Costa Rica an ‘Attack against nature’ – or not?
07/04/2010 12:24:56
Attack against nature - Or sustainable use?
Olive Ridley egg collection in Costa RicaThere has been an email doing the rounds (Wildlife Extra has received more than 50 copies, and tens of millions of copies have circulated the world) with some, at first appearance, shocking images of uncontrolled turtle egg theft from the beaches of Costa Rica.
Whilst the images are real, most of the facts that appear on the email are not true. Egg collection is permitted by the members of one community and is strictly controlled by the Costa Rican government. They have conducted a study which has shown that the egg collection, which is restricted to members of around 120 families, has no effect on the total number of Olive Ridley turtles hatchlings. Tens of thousands of turtles lay their eggs in the Ostional Wildlife Refuge every year, laying an estimated 4 million eggs.
In fact the limited egg collection is part of a sustainable scheme that probably increases the total number of hatchlings, as the community is incentivised to police uncontrolled poaching of turtles and eggs from the refuge, while improving their own financial situation.
Sustainable use
The problem is that more and more people have tunnel vision when it comes to conservation and wildlife, without knowing the full facts. Wildlife Extra is dedicated to conservation and wildlife, but not at all costs. Sustainable and traditional hunting and gathering must be allowed where appropriate, and in most parts of the world, wildlife will never thrive unless there is a financial incentive for sustainable conservation, even if that does mean sustainable consumption in some places.
Statement from the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment
Costa Rica Turtle Sustainability Project - Ostional Wildlife Refuge
The Ostional Wildlife Refuge in Costa Rica is where tens of thousands of sea turtles congregate and nest in a massive and synchronous fashion, known as the "arribada", the Spanish word for arrival. The turtle educational program in Ostional was developed in 1987 to create a balance between the environment and the socioeconomic needs of the community.
 |
Tens of thousands of turtles lay their eggs in the
Ostional Wildlife Refuge every year, laying an
estimated 4 million eggs. |
Through a program developed by the Ostional Development Association and approved by the Costa Rican Institute for Aquaculture and Fishing (INCOPESCA) and the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (MINAET), the community of Ostional has been allowed to harvest a certain portion of the sea turtle eggs. This Management Plan was designed and based upon the best scientific evidence available at the time (Cornelius et al., 1992), which suggested that the harvesting of a certain portion of eggs would not impact hatching success rates nor net neonate production, while it does improve the economic situation of the community of Ostional, a strong incentive to the responsible management of the resource. The project was also considered a contribution to the struggle against the illegal harvest of sea turtles eggs from other beaches and that are sold in clandestine. The social economic success of this project was a well accepted fact by the local community, the authorities and sea turtle conservationist community in general.
After 11 years of controlled harvest, a general concern existed among local authorities and the international scientific community regarding the biological implications of this legal egg harvest and the impact on the nesting population, especially considering the lack of technical reports and scientific publications since the legal harvest was approved in 1987. It is generally accepted that the harvest of olive Ridley sea turtle eggs is permissible if the adult population is stable and enough eggs are protected to ensure a healthy production of hatchlings.
 |
The egg collection, which is restricted to members
of around 120 families, has no effect on the total
number of Olive Ridley turtles hatchlings, and
may even help protect their numbers.
|
As a result, a study was conducted in 1997 to determine if the harvest of eggs had impacted the nesting population. This review was submitted to the authorities of INCOPESCA and MINAET in December of the same year. Through a series of studies they found that the Ostional nesting population of olive Ridley sea turtles varies within normal parameters, and there is no statistical evidence to suggest that the number of nesting adults is increasing or decreasing. In other words, we could say that current egg harvest levels do not negatively impact hatchling production.
In 2007 MINAET and INCOSPESCA, in conjunction with the Costa Rica National Parks System (SINAC), The Association for the Integral Development of Ostional (ADIO) and the College of Biological Studies for the University of Costa Rica (UCR), built a five-year plan that would continue to protect the well-being and ecosystems of the approximately four million turtles which hatch each year and would, at the same time, favour the more than 120 families of Ostional who would be helping to protect them.
It is important to understand that the nature of this project is one that calls for a balance between society and environment and serves as an educational tool for the surrounding community to learn more about the importance of conserving this species.
Our thanks and apologies to the unknown photographer.
Read the comments about this article and leave your own comment
after i view and read about it from both sides.... here is my considaration ...... we must undrestand that we are dealing with here is not an animal reise in captivity like chicken or pigs for human consumtion but animals in the wild that are part of an fragile ecosystem ...and the balence is normally assured by the nature it self ...here we are simply intefering with nature like we as human did let goverment regulated the fishing industries that lead to the over fishing in the ocean ...and we know the consequence of that .....the real problem is not to consume those but since they are not reise in captivity this has a dangerous effect on the planet for every action human interfere in the wild ......like seal in the artic or pink salom in the pacific ... etc....again lets think twice because we have seen the result of human action on wild life ...this could result in one more a big shift of balence of our fragile planet ...wise up ......if you agree please or endorse my view add your own comments .....
Posted by: louis lefrancois | 07 Mar 2012 13:50:42
imo this is simply a deal made by the CR authorities with the locals, it has little to do with the turtles welfare. Simply said it is about money in someone's pocket, namely the company that has the monopoly on the sale of the eggs and keeping the locals pacified. Notice how the CR gvt does not make mention of any internationally aclaimed and trusted scientific organization to help with their plan. Consequently it appears that the scientific community is concerned about this, a thorough investigation is definitely called for as a result.
I have great doubts at to the validity of the CR arguments and it certainly does not change the fact that this is human intervention in wildlife again and we know where that has led us in the past. If we were not here nature would simply take care of itself, the last thing it needs is ignorant (greedy) humans bent on destruction most of the time to take care of it. Each time we interfere with nature we tend to create a disaster due to our restricted way of thinking. We act without fully understanding/grasping/knowing some of the consequences. Leave well alone I say.
Posted by: myriam | 14 Mar 2011 16:25:00
I take your point about primitive peoples such as Bushmen and Inunits needing to hunt as there is not enough other food available to them. That would be a very limited amount of hunting, however, and I appreciate that you do not approve of sport hunting, which is truly sad and sick imo.
As for my being mistaken about turtles and other animals having "human" emotions, I do not claim that. I do not anthropomorphize in a Disney way. I say that they have their own feelings and thoughts, and we cannot know them for sure. Mothers of many species have demonstrated emotion in numerous scientifically observed instances. This cannot be discounted. The fact that the turtle walks away without watching her hatchlings grow up is not proof of an uncaringness. It is their practice, just as we leave kids in the care of strangers when we go to work. That doesn't mean we don't care.
And as for not visiting Costa Rica, why is that any more absurd than boycotting a store that sells cigarettes to children? We can vote with our pocketbooks, you know. Just as the US govt. sanctions nations who do despicable things in the govt's opinion, we citizens should do the same.
And I agree with you about computers and other things we use being harmful. We make what "green" efforts we can.
Posted by: Powell Ettinger | 17 Nov 2010 15:33:53
Many thanks for your email. It was an interesting point of view so I hope you don’t mind, but we will publish your email alongside the article about Costa Rica.
You obviously have very strong feelings about animal welfare, and I wish you every success in some of your campaigns. Wildlife Extra promotes wildlife conservation worldwide, but we do not advocate all conservation whatever the cost. There are innumerable incidences where we have absolutely no problem with humans hunting wildlife. The Kalahari bushmen have lived for centuries off the product of their land, and without a little hunting and gathering, they would cease to exist. (This is common for many tribes worldwide.) At the other end of the scale, trophy hunting for sport (which is most predominant amongst your countrymen), is absolutely despicable. Somewhere in between lies the boundary between what is and isn’t acceptable, unless you believe that the Kalahari Bushmen, the Aboriginal people of Australia and many more should be come extinct, in which case there is no answer short of the extinction of the human race that will be acceptable.
You also make the mistake of crediting animals with human emotions. Sea turtles lay their eggs and then leave the beach, never once knowingly setting their eyes on their own offspring. They would not know their own children if they bumped into them in the sea years later. We do not condone the unsustainable killing of wildlife for any reason, but there are very old practices in many parts of the world that are sustainable, and in some cases actually help protect the wildlife in the long run.
To say that you will never again visit Costa Rica is patently absurd. Whilst no country, or person, is perfect, no country in the world has done more for its native wildlife than Costa Rica. If you refuse to visit Costa Rica, then you should never set foot outside of your own house, which I trust contains no wood (Think of the wildlife butchered to cut down the trees), or stone, brickwork or cement (Wildlife butchered to mine the materials necessary). I also assume you have a clockwork computer so as not to use any electricity, and that your computer isn’t made from anything that might have endangered a single bacteria whose mother might rue its passing.
Let she who is without sin cast the first stone.
Posted by: Powell Ettinger | 17 Nov 2010 15:32:19
<p> Having read your article that supposedly debunks the shocking story of wholesale turtle eggs in Costa Rica, I can only say that even if it is legal, and allegedly controlled by the government, it is still unbelievably cruel. I think you need to consider this fact when you write of the needs of the human beings in the region. Whatever you want to call it -- "harvesting" or poaching or stealing, as I call it -- it is done right before the eyes of the mothers!!! </p><p>Costa Ricans are taking them to sell, of course, and I deplore whatever country buys the eggs - they are as much to blame as the cruel Costa Ricans who are taking the eggs. Can you imagine the heartbreak and suffering caused to the mother turtles as they see the eggs that they struggled to produce and protect and hope to hatch into their children being taken from right in front of them?? And the poor mothers are helpless to stop these wretched human thieves from destroying their babies. How anyone can be so heartless I do not know. It is all very well to say, oh, these are poor people who need to make money from the eggs. I say to hell with that excuse. If they are really so poor the government should be helping them. </p><p> The government should be ashamed to allow such "harvesting." Besides the obvious misery caused to the turtle mothers, the turtles could go extinct very soon because of such stupidity. The so-called conservation efforts may not be enough. What a tragedy for nature. We humans are destroying so many species by our ignorance and greed. Of course, my own countrymen do awful things to animals, too. Please don't think I am not aware of that. I always protest such behavior in my own country, too. </p><p> All thinking, decent human beings with a conscience should protest and take actions against any cruelty to animals anywhere in the world. I hope you agree. Myself and my friends and many other Americans who I am telling about this terrible cruelty to turtles will never again visit Costa Rica or have anything to do with tourism in that country if they do not stop this awful thing. Surely, tourism dollars are more important to Costa Rica than the sale of turtle eggs! Even without this threat, they should for kindness' sake stop the stealing from mother turtles. </p><p>They suffer just as human mothers would who have their babies stolen! Your article is a tacit approval of this horror. The taking of eggs should be illegal. You should want to protect these poor, helpless creatures from such barbarity. Otherwise you are abetting the misery of the turtle mothers. </p>
Posted by: | 17 Nov 2010 15:35:39
While the collecting of turtle eggs in the Ostional Wildlife Refuge may or may not be sustainable, there are many examples of unsustainable wildlife Industries around the World, all "backed up" by research, usually paid for by those who financially benefit from the Industry.
Some of these include the "sustainable" use of elephants and other large mammals in Sth Africa, the infamous Australian kangaroo kill, and again in Australia, the duck and quail shooting seasons. Commercial fishing is another one, as is whaling.
I guess "sustainable" means something different to different people, depending on who makes a profit.
Posted by: Pat | 07 Apr 2010 23:45:48