Sea Turtle Conservation
Hot Days, Long Nights—Pure Magic
Chelsea Clyde-Brockway
north coast of the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica. It’s one of the most beautiful coastal wilderness areas in Central America. The Leatherback Trust began researching sea turtles nesting on this little-known, rugged beach in 2011. Their research has shown that Playa Cabuyal is an important nesting beach for East Pacific green, olive ridley and even critically endangered leatherback turtles.
I went to Playa Cabuyal to study East Pacific green turtles, and the movements and habitats they use between nesting events. (East Pacific green turtles usually lay around 4 clutches each nesting season.) I also got lessons in rugged living and the challenges of conservation—and an amazing tan, to boot.
Night becomes day and day becomes night when you’re working with sea turtles; they prefer to nest under cover of darkness. When I finally crawl into bed at 5AM, I do a nightly spider and scorpion check: under the sheets, along the wall, etc. After a long night hiking through soft sand the last thing I need is a pinching, stinging, or biting bedmate. Spiders on the wall or ceiling get a pass, though I make a mental note of their locations before closing my eyes.
Coffee is my favorite part of Cabuyal camp mornings, which always seem to arrive all too soon. I measure a spoonful or two of grounds for every cup into a reusable coffee filter held up by a ring stand, like the one from chemistry class or maybe your local hipster cafe serving pour-over coffee. The milk we get is flash heated and sealed in boxes to avoid refrigeration, a luxury we leave behind at Cabuyal camp. Sometimes I switch my routine up for powdered cream in place of boxed milk. It may not be as rich as the heavy whipping cream I sometimes save for my morning brew back in Indiana, but after 4 hours of sleep it tastes just perfect at Playa Cabuyal.
Breakfast is almost always corn flakes. On a special day, I might add slices of ripe banana or plantain.
During the day there’s not too much to do at Playa Cabuyal. The excitement comes at night when the sea turtles arrive. My days as a visiting sea turtle biologist are spent reading the classics or science novels, preparing backpacks and equipment for nighttime patrols up and down the beach in search of turtles, and editing my research manuscript. Resident biologists spend afternoons triangulating nests from the night before, surveying the beach to deter poachers, and, later in the season, excavating already hatched nests to measure hatching success. Sometimes biologists find a lost hatchling searching for the ocean on the beach or uncover a trapped hatchling as they conduct a nest excavation. Some of the most exciting moments for biologists are when we get to watch these hatchlings paddle out into the waves.
Running helps me focus; and when you’ve got scientific research to do, it’s important to be clear-headed. I set out with my Garmin to keep track of distance. Like the sea turtles I want to understand, I measure my distance and time to assess my progress, get a sense for my current state. Before, the road leading to Playa Cabuyal was unpaved. Rocks sometimes came loose as I ran, kicking them up around me as I pounded along. On my last trip to Cabuyal, I found the road had been paved.
Those of us who work at Playa Cabuyal felt uneasy. Roads mean easy access. Sea turtle biologists know that when cars and visitors can easily make their way to nesting beaches, decreases in numbers of nesting turtles and rates of hatchling success follow. Studies show that sea turtles prefer nesting on dark, undeveloped beaches and hatchlings can become disoriented by artificial lighting. Scientists with The Leatherback Trust saw such declines as coastal development overtook Tamarindo, the town neighboring Las Baulas National Park. Spoiler alert: sea turtles no longer nest on Playa Tamarindo.
Humans are mostly responsible for the drastic declines in sea turtle populations over the past hundred years. As humans have become more aware of the needs of sea turtles, we have taken some actions to limit our negative impacts. But the changes we have made are mostly limited to the parts of the sea turtle life cycle most visible to us: nesting and hatching on the beach.
Conservation efforts at beaches like Playa Cabuyal have successfully stopped egg poaching. But once sea turtles leave the beach, they enter an unpredictable environment. Sea turtles pass through fishing and conservation areas, crossing different geopolitical boundaries and swimming through ocean habitats where protections can be more difficult to enforce.
My research focuses on the time sea turtles spend in the ocean. I want to know where and how East Pacific green turtles spend their time between nesting events on Playa Cabuyal. By knowing more, I believe we can better protect sea turtles during these vulnerable moments.
Some people ask me how it’s possible to stay awake walking up and down a beach for 6 to 9 hours in complete darkness, but the night is a magical time and you’re always in good company. It’s easy to find something to talk about when you’re on a sea turtle research team. You end up knowing your sea turtle colleagues and camp volunteers better than you know some of your friends back home.
Under a shower of shooting stars each night at Playa Cabuyal, we all wish for sea turtles. No matter how many times I see a turtle on the beach, they always blow me away. It’s like encountering a living, breathing dinosaur— this animal has been around for so inconceivably long but has changed so relatively little. It’s pure magic.
When the season as a sea turtle biologist ends, your endless tired nights cease and you return to the spider-free comforts of home only to find the world has gone on spinning in your absence. And, after sleeping for 12 hours every night for a week straight, you begin to plot your return for the next nesting season.
Bio: A researcher with The Leatherback Trust (http://www.leatherback.org/) since 2012, Chelsea holds a Master’s in Biology from Purdue University and is currently pursuing her PhD in Wildlife Science.
The Leatherback Trust welcomes volunteers in a variety of ways, including early career biologists at Playa Cabuyal. Learn more about opportunities on their website (http://www.leatherback.org/get-involved).
Photo credits
Butler20166.jpg Brett Butler
Cabuyal4.jpg Tera Dornfeld
BrockwayBoat.jpg Chelsea Clyde-Brockway
articipating in a sea turtle conservation project in Costa Rica is like disappearing into a dream world. The fruit is fresh. The ocean is next door. And the days are hot. It also means spiders in your bed and powdered milk in your coffee. But it’s worth it.
Playa Cabuyal (http://www.leatherback.org/get-involved/join-us/playa-cabuyal) is situated on the north coast of the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica. It’s one of the most beautiful coastal wilderness areas in Central America. The Leatherback Trust began researching sea turtles nesting on this little-known, rugged beach in 2011. Their research has shown that Playa Cabuyal is an important nesting beach for East Pacific green, olive ridley and even critically endangered leatherback turtles.
I went to Playa Cabuyal to study East Pacific green turtles, and the movements and habitats they use between nesting events. (East Pacific green turtles usually lay around 4 clutches each nesting season.) I also got lessons in rugged living and the challenges of conservation—and an amazing tan, to boot.
Night becomes day and day becomes night when you’re working with sea turtles; they prefer to nest under cover of darkness. When I finally crawl into bed at 5AM, I do a nightly spider and scorpion check: under the sheets, along the wall, etc. After a long night hiking through soft sand the last thing I need is a pinching, stinging, or biting bedmate. Spiders on the wall or ceiling get a pass, though I make a mental note of their locations before closing my eyes.
Coffee is my favorite part of Cabuyal camp mornings, which always seem to arrive all too soon. I measure a spoonful or two of grounds for every cup into a reusable coffee filter held up by a ring stand, like the one from chemistry class or maybe your local hipster cafe serving pour-over coffee. The milk we get is flash heated and sealed in boxes to avoid refrigeration, a luxury we leave behind at Cabuyal camp. Sometimes I switch my routine up for powdered cream in place of boxed milk. It may not be as rich as the heavy whipping cream I sometimes save for my morning brew back in Indiana, but after 4 hours of sleep it tastes just perfect at Playa Cabuyal.
Breakfast is almost always corn flakes. On a special day, I might add slices of ripe banana or plantain.
During the day there’s not too much to do at Playa Cabuyal. The excitement comes at night when the sea turtles arrive. My days as a visiting sea turtle biologist are spent reading the classics or science novels, preparing backpacks and equipment for nighttime patrols up and down the beach in search of turtles, and editing my research manuscript. Resident biologists spend afternoons triangulating nests from the night before, surveying the beach to deter poachers, and, later in the season, excavating already hatched nests to measure hatching success. Sometimes biologists find a lost hatchling searching for the ocean on the beach or uncover a trapped hatchling as they conduct a nest excavation. Some of the most exciting moments for biologists are when we get to watch these hatchlings paddle out into the waves.
Running helps me focus; and when you’ve got scientific research to do, it’s important to be clear-headed. I set out with my Garmin to keep track of distance. Like the sea turtles I want to understand, I measure my distance and time to assess my progress, get a sense for my current state. Before, the road leading to Playa Cabuyal was unpaved. Rocks sometimes came loose as I ran, kicking them up around me as I pounded along. On my last trip to Cabuyal, I found the road had been paved.
Those of us who work at Playa Cabuyal felt uneasy. Roads mean easy access. Sea turtle biologists know that when cars and visitors can easily make their way to nesting beaches, decreases in numbers of nesting turtles and rates of hatchling success follow. Studies show that sea turtles prefer nesting on dark, undeveloped beaches and hatchlings can become disoriented by artificial lighting. Scientists with The Leatherback Trust saw such declines as coastal development overtook Tamarindo, the town neighboring Las Baulas National Park. Spoiler alert: sea turtles no longer nest on Playa Tamarindo.
Humans are mostly responsible for the drastic declines in sea turtle populations over the past hundred years. As humans have become more aware of the needs of sea turtles, we have taken some actions to limit our negative impacts. But the changes we have made are mostly limited to the parts of the sea turtle life cycle most visible to us: nesting and hatching on the beach.
Conservation efforts at beaches like Playa Cabuyal have successfully stopped egg poaching. But once sea turtles leave the beach, they enter an unpredictable environment. Sea turtles pass through fishing and conservation areas, crossing different geopolitical boundaries and swimming through ocean habitats where protections can be more difficult to enforce.
My research focuses on the time sea turtles spend in the ocean. I want to know where and how East Pacific green turtles spend their time between nesting events on Playa Cabuyal. By knowing more, I believe we can better protect sea turtles during these vulnerable moments.
Some people ask me how it’s possible to stay awake walking up and down a beach for 6 to 9 hours in complete darkness, but the night is a magical time and you’re always in good company. It’s easy to find something to talk about when you’re on a sea turtle research team. You end up knowing your sea turtle colleagues and camp volunteers better than you know some of your friends back home.
Under a shower of shooting stars each night at Playa Cabuyal, we all wish for sea turtles. No matter how many times I see a turtle on the beach, they always blow me away. It’s like encountering a living, breathing dinosaur— this animal has been around for so inconceivably long but has changed so relatively little. It’s pure magic.
When the season as a sea turtle biologist ends, your endless tired nights cease and you return to the spider-free comforts of home only to find the world has gone on spinning in your absence. And, after sleeping for 12 hours every night for a week straight, you begin to plot your return for the next nesting season.
Bio: A researcher with The Leatherback Trust (http://www.leatherback.org/) since 2012, Chelsea holds a Master’s in Biology from Purdue University and is currently pursuing her PhD in Wildlife Science.
The Leatherback Trust welcomes volunteers in a variety of ways, including early career biologists at Playa Cabuyal. Learn more about opportunities on their website (http://www.leatherback.org/get-involved).
Photo credits
Butler20166.jpg Brett Butler
Cabuyal4.jpg Tera Dornfeld
BrockwayBoat.jpg Chelsea Clyde-Brockway
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January 2017 - Sustainable Tourism
46 - SEVENSEAS