Brief Analysis
The photographs are genuine, but they do not depict the illegal poaching of turtle eggs. In fact, the egg harvest shown in the photographs is a perfectly legal and strictly controlled event that is managed by the Costa Rican government and been in operation since the 1980's. Far from being an "attack against nature", the egg harvest is an integral part of a long term conservation program that has resulted in a significant increase in the successful hatchings of Olive Ridley Turtles.
4 comments:
ICK!
Try "the Google" before you post so you don't get suckered into pushing misinformation and damaging your reputation as a credible information source.
A quick search reveals links from a number of groups including:
From Cambridge University Press:
In 1995, a study found that the socioeconomic benefits from a legalized commercial harvest of sea turtle eggs in Ostional (Costa Rica) were substantial and widely recognized by Ostional residents. Legal and administrative structures ensured community participation in and control of resource use, and evidence indicated support for community-based conservation (CBC) was high. In 2004, the study was repeated to assess how perceptions of the egg harvest might have changed over time. There were continued high levels of support for conservation and positive perceptions of the project's impacts on the economy, environment and community.
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=BB528EA6BB5F5EE1F656CF5FAC653C8B.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=1207152
Or how about Rita Karrel of Trent University's article on oceanactions.com:
Ostional is an excellent example of how management regimes can cooperate to produce a sustainable ‘consumptive use’ conservation program operating at the community level. The inclusion of egg harvesting as part of the conservation program may make some conservationists uncomfortable, but it is a solution that meets the needs of this particular situation – an arribada, a remote village, a tradition of egg harvesting. The local situation is the ultimate filter determining the most appropriate means of achieving sustainability.
http://www.oceanactions.com/?page_id=95
Or even Hoax Slayer:
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/costa-rica-turtle-eggs.shtml
I love turtles - have the tag on my car - but not everything is so cut and dry. If their government banned it altogether, there would be wanton poaching in this region where the government barely has a presence. Enlisting the village in the protection through sustainable harvest is an alternative that seems to work (at least through the last 15 years that it has been studied on these beaches).
More forethought please.
Exactly.
Do you think for one minute Costa Rica would allow something like that ?
Go home and remove a mountain top or something.
I didn't know it was legal to take sea turtle eggs in Costa Rica at specific times ... here's more info. From the web:
http://costaricanconservationnetwork.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/did-you-know-it’s-legal-to-poach-sea-turtle-nests/
Post a Comment