Extremely rare hawksbill sea turtle nests hatch on Pacific coast of Costa Rica
September 26, 2005 – San José, Costa Rica
The PRETOMA project at Playa Caletas on the north central Pacific coast of Costa Rica, recently witnessed the hatching of two extremely rare hawksbill sea turtle nests.
The hawksbill turtle is listed as critically endangered and their populations have declined rapidly due to various factors. They are hunted for their meat, their carapace is used around the world for sunglasses, combs and jewellery, and like all sea turtles, their nests are frequently poached. Their populations on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica are so rare that witnessing a nesting female is an extraordinarily unusual event.
PRETOMA has been monitoring and protecting sea turtles at Playa Caletas since 2002. On July 15 of this year, the project got an unexpected visit from a hawksbill. During the evening patrol, field coordinator Erick Lopez (Costa Rica) noticed the track of a turtle and was taken aback when he realized it was a hawksbill. He tagged the turtle on both its front flippers and transferred the 127 eggs it laid to the project hatchery.
Then just three days later another hawksbill surprised everybody and nested on the same beach. Project assistants Andrew Klimczyk (Poland) and Victor Poor (Hungary) tagged it and transferred its 103 eggs to the hatchery.
On September 15, 63 days after the first nest, amazingly 100% of the eggs hatched successfully and 127 hawksbill hatchlings were released into the sea. And on September 17, the second nest hatched and 89 more hatchlings were released for a hatching success rate of over 85%.
PRETOMA has been working on various sea turtle nesting beaches on the Pacific since 1996 and during that time has only registered 5 hawksbill nests, three in Punta Banco, and two more in Cana Blanca. Both these beaches are located on the south Pacific coast.
Unfortunately, PRETOMA has also found 3 dead hawksbills on project beaches. Two on San Miguel beach in 2000 and 2004 on the north central Pacific coast and one in April 2005 on the beach just south of Playa Caletas.
PRETOMA is working directly with the Ministry of Environment (MINAE) to designate Playa Caletas and its surrounding habitats as a National Wildlife Refuge.
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