Schools of hammerhead sharks, Silky, Galapagos and Tiger sharks, and gentle sea turtles abound in the waters surrounding Cocos Island National Marine Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Cocos Island sits approximately 350 miles from the Costa Rican mainland and is surrounded by a 12-mile no-take Marine Protected Area.
Turtle Island Restoration Network is sponsoring graduate student Elena Nalesso in her efforts to better understand the sharks of the Cocos Islands. Elena is currently completing her thesis on the island’s sharks and recently returned from her first Cocos Island Expedition.
Sanjay, a 117-pound male, Pacific green sea turtle made history when he swam from the protected water of Cocos Island Marine National Park in Costa Rica and crossed into the Galapagos Marine Reserve in Ecuador.
One normal migration for turtles, one giant discovery for humankind. With his 14-day journey from the waters of Costa Rica’s Cocos Island National Park to the Galapagos Marine Reserve in Ecuador, “Sanjay,” an endangered green sea turtle, established the first direct migration link between the two protected areas.
First Scientific Proof of Migration Paths & Connection Between Marine Protected Areas in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Olema, Calif (June 19, 2014) – Sanjay, a 53 kilogram (117 pounds)…
Charity Navigator, a guide to responsible giving and one of the most used independent evaluator of charities, has awarded Turtle Island Restoration Network the prestigious 4-star rating.
My two previous trips to Cocos Island were on the MV Argo, another of the Undersea Hunter fleet, to assist biologists from the U.S.-based Sea Turtle Restoration Network ( STRN; www.seaturtles.org ) and the Costa Rican group PRETOMA (www.pretoma.org ). Our mission was to tag sharks and capture sea turtles at Cocos’ iconic dive sites, which meant I had to override my “programming” of not harassing sea life.
You are invited to join me, Todd Steiner, Executive Director of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, on an 10 or 12-day live-aboard dive research expedition to Cocos Island National Park to help study the sea turtles and sharks of the region.
“Todd Steiner brings an uncompromising commitment to the Earth’s wildlife and deep expertise in ocean campaigns, including tireless work to protect dolphins from tuna fishing and closing endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtle habitat to drift gillnetting,”
As part of a research program to understand the ecology and movements of sharks and turtles within and beyond the borders of Costa Rica’s Cocos Island National Park (Cocos), participants spent nine days at Cocos capturing and tagging sea turtles and sharks.
