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A Costa Rica research satellite and fin tagging expedition recently got underway at Cocos Island mapping its green sea turtle and hawksbill visitors.

Conservationists and researchers sail Costa Rica open waters for 30 hours or more in their pursuit of migration habits 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 was described by the world famous explorer, Jacque Cousteau, as the most beautiful island he had ever visited. The small island, just nine square miles in area, lies some 340 miles off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, nearly halfway to the Galapagos Islands.

It is unlikely that it was the tropical sand and boulder beaches or palm trees that captivated Captain Cousteau. Its beauty is found nearby, just off its shores, under water. Costa Ricans have chosen it as one of the Seven Wonders of Costa Rica because in these waters one finds priceless treasure: huge schools and varieties of fish, porpoises, whales and turtles.

Marine turtles have been swimming the oceans since the days of dinosaurs. Imagine the mighty T Rex feeding on them 200 million years ago when they went ashore to nest.

These ancient beings are found in all the oceans of the world except the Arctic and Antarctic.

Once, the sheer numbers of green sea turtle, hawksbill, leatherback and other species were so massive that mariners, lost in the fog, sometimes found land by listening for the sounds of sea turtles paddling towards nesting grounds.

Once, not so long ago the sheer numbers of sea turtles were still so seemingly without end that seamen lost in the fog sometimes found their way by listening for sea turtles paddling towards beaches that had been used for eons. For eons, marine turtles provided food for every kind of creature. Over eons, billions and billions fell prey to mighty animals and trillions and trillions of eggs fed birds and animals, including man, for innumerable generations, yet the species’ flourished. However, in just a few short, recent generations, man’s unrestrained coastline development and wanton plundering of these animals and their eggs have put these creatures at risk. Whole populations were killed off in South America to make expensive Italian shoes.

Jacque Yves Cousteau once sadly predicted: “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, more and more governments and conservation organizations are trying to restore at least some turtle populations. International treaties relating to sea turtles are now in place, though many countries still fail to enforce 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 marine turtles are fitted with satellite transmitters that track them 24 hours a day while others bear numbered flipper tags. It is all part of an effort to track their travel patterns.

These taggingvolunteers, scientists, and researchers know that sea turtles can be around another 200 million years but only if men pay more attention to protection than exploitation.

The writer, Victor Krumm, posts from tropical Costa Rica. Follow his lovely site Costa Rica Vacations and for info about great beaches check out Costa Rica Beaches

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