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Cocos Island Research Expedition

Meet Photography for a Change’s Ron Wooten

By Cocos Island Research Expedition, Got Mercury?, Gulf Education & Outreach, Marine Mammals & Seabirds, Sea Turtles, Sharks

Ron is one of the featured photographer’s in Photography for a Change’s incredible online show. As a quick recap for those of you who haven’t already heard, Photography for a Change, provides exquisite photographs of our natural environs. This show features four photographers who have generously donated their images and prints to support Turtle Island Restoration Network.

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Drones & Submarines Assist Scientists At Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica

By Cocos Island Research Expedition, Marine Mammals & Seabirds, Sea Turtles, Sharks

During a recent scientific expedition to Cocos Island National Park (May 4-15, 2015), small two and three passenger submarines known as submersibles were used to deploy acoustic listening stations at 180 m (590 ft) depth, an inflatable boat was used to catch sharks and implant acoustic tracking tags, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, also known as drones) were used to patrol from above in search of marine wildlife below. The expedition was directed by Randall Arauz, Central American Director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network (Turtle Island), in collaboration with Costa Rica’s National System of Protected Areas (SINAC) and the Cocos Island Marine Conservation Area (ACMIC), and with the companies Alucia Productions II, Precision Integrated and Aeroval.

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Photography for a Change Show to Benefit Turtle Island Restoration Network

By Cocos Island Research Expedition, Got Mercury?, Marine Mammals & Seabirds, Sea Turtles, Sharks

Turtle Island Restoration Network is proud to announce that we are teaming up with Photography for a Change to offer you high quality, fine art prints from top, emerging photographers. For a limited time you can purchase these stunning prints that put you in an ocean state of mind, liven up your walls and help protect our world’s oceans and marine wildlife!

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Turtle Island Joins Sea Party Coalition!

By Cocos Island Research Expedition, Gulf Education & Outreach, Marine Mammals & Seabirds, Sea Turtles, Sharks

The Sea Party Coalition represents coastal and inland cities and towns, businesses, fishermen, surfers, divers, boaters and other concerned citizens regardless of political affiliation who support a healthy and vibrant coastal economy and oppose proposed new oil surveying and drilling along the Atlantic Coast and in the U.S. Arctic Ocean.

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Fracas over Costa Rican shark-fin exports leads American Airlines to stop shipping fins

By Cocos Island Research Expedition, Sharks

On December 24, an American Airlines plane carried 411 kilos (904 pounds) of dried hammerhead shark fins from Alajuela, Costa Rica, to Hong Kong, touching down partway through the journey in Miami. The shipment, valued at nearly $53,000, contained fins from around 411 animals, more than seven times the number on its export permit from the Costa Rican government. The fins came from two species of shark: smooth hammerheads (Sphyrna zygaena), which are classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN, and scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini), which are classified as Endangered by the IUCN and under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

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