Sea turtle volunteer project Quelonios del Caribe
Volunteer project for enviromental education, investigation and conservation of sea turtles
Description
Quelonios del Caribe Station is located on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. It is a predominantly tropical rainforest
The main focus of the project is the protection of marine turtles, as well as the improvement of quality of life for the local communities.
At the beginning, people from the local communities survived by the illegal trade of sea turtle´s eggs and meat. Giant Leatherbacks, Hawksbills, and Green Sea turtles, not only depend on the area for nesting but are also threatened with extinction.
One of the biggest challenges was to involve these people in the projects and convince them to join the conservation efforts by teaching them how to make an income by cooperating with the various conservation projects and therefore be trained for the various positions within the project, including working with volunteers and a variety of other program activities.
The work on the conservation of the area’s surrounding rain forests is also important. Quelonios is developing as a self sustainable community-based conservation program that includes butterfly gardens, wherein volunteers can aid in the research of butterfly development and preservation, self-sustainable organic vegetable gardens, as well as the construction of community trails where volunteers can work alongside local peoples helping to improve the trail systems.
Sea turtle projects
Among the main goals are the protection and investigation of marine turtles of the area and the promotion of conservation awarenes and promotion of environmental education programs-
- Nightly beach patrols for the protection of marine turtles
- Assist in cleaning the immediate surrounds of nesting zones
- Identify and account for turtle tracks on the beaches
- Search for turtle nests
- Count numbers of eggs in each nest and relocate them to a secure nursery
- Monitor relocated turtle nests; monitor nest temperatures
- Freeing baby turtles for their initial journey to sea
- Take biometric measurements of turtles.
- Butterfly Garden sustainable farming
- Work in the organic gardens and in trail building activities
- Participate in local cultural activities
- Assist in a variety of maintenance activities
- As part of related projects the programme is planning to include fish farms , shrimp farms, hog farming, composting.
