An olive ridley sea turtle

It has been an amazing adventure working with ARCAE this summer!  For a day on the job, I headed out on the 5am bus from the small town of Punta Banco, on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, right across from the tip of the Osa Peninsula, at the mouth of the Golfo Dulce.  The old yellow school bus bumped along, winding along the coast to where I meet the small-town fisherman with an impressive conservation ethic.  William Mata promotes responsible fishing and ecotourism alternatives to reduce catch in the local community.

I helped William push his fishing boat down the beach and out into the Pacific.  With GPS unit, a thermometer, and a notebook we headed out to systematically survey study areas located along the coast at Punta Banco and in the center of the mouth of the Golfo Dulce.  We chatted and fished on our way to the set transects, discussing conservation, his life, the area, my studies, an endless list by the time we finished the project.

Boat captain William Mata and research assistant Jose Cortez

And then we arrived at the first point, and I focused, and began the visual survey, scanning the water.  Turtles, dolphins, and humpback whales joined us on our journey, and all were marked in the GPS.  I attempted to photograph the experience and the sightings, but it is hard to get a good photo of a diving turtle from a rocking boat.  At the end of six weeks, I had seen Bottle-nosed dolphins swimming with our bow, Green sea turtles mating, playful Olive-Ridley’s diving quickly and swimming around under the boat, a juvenile turtle waving a flipper “Adios”, Humpback whales breaching and breathing, a fishermen enthusiastically describing the benefits of ecotourism on the local economy and environment, and the famous Pavones swell moving in through the vast blue.

Stanford University and ARCAE research student Grace Goldberg

Now I return to Stanford, to continue data analysis.  For now, I found that the Green turtle season may extend far past March, since I saw a few mating pairs in July.  Olive-Ridleys were especially prevalent in the coastal area, showing a preference for marine habitats closer to nesting beaches as they began their nesting season.  But most importantly, egg poachers are out in full force on the beaches at night.  Now that the Granjas Atuneras (tuna aquaculture) project has been stopped, and the local fishermen are working to extend the “Responsible Fishing Area”, the marine habitats are safe… for now.  Contact Andy at ARCAE (a.bystrom@arcae.org) to find out how you can help us protect the eggs and tortuguitas hatching on Punta Banco beaches, either by coming to patrol or helping support locals who wish to protect the turtles.  These fascinating beings are in danger of extinction and need all the help they can get!

Pura Vida

Grace

A projector will be a crucial piece of equipment for ARCAE’s educational and scientific presentations along the Southern Coast Rican coast.  Using a projector will allow team members to show project pictures, maps, graphs, etc.  Its use will add a level of seriousness and professionalism to the organization’s work.

ARCAE members requested a portable projector because the majority of their work is in the field at various sites (schools, community meeting areas, fishing dock, etc.).  Local community groups and schools that share ARCAE’s mission of natural resource conservation through education and research will aldo be given the opportunity to learn how to use the projector for their own needs.

While some might consider this a small gift, it means a great deal to ARCAE.

In 2012 ARCAE is performing 2 marine fauna visual surveys of the mouth of the Golfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf) along Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific coast, a series of environmental education workshops for the area’s school children, and an olive ridley sea turtle nesting beach conservation project, as well as participating in local initiatives to establish a marine managed area in the region.

If you’d like to make a simple donation to a small non-profit doing big things, contact Andy Bystrom at a.bystrom@arcae.org

]]> http://costaricanconservationnetwork.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/shark-finning-benefit-event/feed/ 0 Spinning event annouoncement cropped Andy Bystrom Spinning event annouoncement compressed http://costaricanconservationnetwork.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/where-the-sharks-and-other-marine-fauna-are/ http://costaricanconservationnetwork.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/where-the-sharks-and-other-marine-fauna-are/#comments Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:53:33 +0000 Andy Bystrom http://costaricanconservationnetwork.wordpress.com/?p=753 Read more]]>

Juvenile shark found caught on a piece of ghost fishing equipment floating inside the project site. The animal was still alive and was released. Photo: Ingrid Rojas

In 2012 ARCAE is performing a marine fauna visual survey of the mouth of the Golfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf) along Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific coast.  The project’s data will contribute to a national campaign to establish an increased number of marine protected areas and responsible fishing zones in the Eastern Tropical Pacific.  The Golfo Dulce is a nursery for juvenile sharks.  Females travel from the open ocean to this coastal area to birth their pups near mangroves and in the turbid waters where the young sharks find protection from larger predators.  In order to increase the global population of sharks, it’s crucial that biologically sensitive areas – like those of the Golfo Dulce – are identified and protected against unsustainable fishing practices including shark finning. 

The project comes at an important time for Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific coast.  Free trade agreements with China (signed into law in August, 2011) allow for the large scale extraction of Costa Rican fishery resources by the Asian superpower.  It’s believed that China will exert increasing political pressure on Costa Rica to implement marine resource extraction projects that fuel its insatiable appetite for shark fins and other marine delicacies. 

The project site: mouth of the Golfo Dulce, Southern Pacific coast, Costa Rica (Photo: Ingrid Rojas)

ARCAE’s visual marine survey is helping to scientifically justify the need to protect these waters and to support local, Costa Rican based, economic development initiatives.  It’s a tough fight, but the ARCAE team is committed to doing what’s right.

While shark protection initiatives by the Costa Rican government will have little impact globally as far as populations are concerned, the country has the power to be a marine conservation example for others to follow, much like it has done in the field of rainforest protection through its acclaimed national park system.

How to help:
In July 2012 members of the California based Spinning to End Finning initiative will be riding their bikes from California to Kentucky to raise money to support ARCAE’s reaserch.  You can make a tax free donation to every mile they ride by clicking here. 

If you would like to learn more or participate in this type of marine research, contact Andy Bystrom at a.bystrom@arcae.org  For more detailed information on this project, please see the “Marine Research” page.

We’re talking about a group of individuals from California who figured out how to combine their love for bike riding with their passion for sharks and desire to improve the state of marine ecosystems.  I could go on and on about the critical role that sharks play in maintaining the balance of the planet’s oceans, but I won’t (at least not right now).  I’d rather talk about how cool the Spinning to End Finning campaign is.  It combines something most of us learned to do as children and take for granted (bike riding) with something we’re just beginning to understand (shark finning), and it brings them together in a campaign that’s fun, attention grabbing, and one that has a direct impact on sharks. 

I’m frequently asked, “What can I do to help the oceans?”  Spinning to End Finning is a great answer to this question.  When I heard about the initiative in 2010 I wrote a blog article titled “I own a bike, how can I stop shark finning?”, and I still refer people to that article as it’s the perfect example of how anyone can get involved and make a positive impact.

I wish I could ride along with Mark and Devon this summer and attend some of their presentations.  Unfortunately, there are many pressing issues here in Costa Rica that demand my attention.  Unbeknown to many, the country is one of the most active shark finning nations in the world because of the sheer number of sharks off its Pacific coast and its political ties with the global shark fin soup market.  So, I’ll leave the ridding to the experts and continue to do my small part in other ways. 

For the sharks, for the oceans, I invite you to support Spinning to End Finning.

About Pretoma
Pretoma (Sea Turtle Restoration Project) was founded in 1997.  Pretoma has an office in San José, Costa Rica and a field station in San Francisco de Coyote, Guanacaste, along the country’s Northern Pacific coast.  Its mission is to protect and restore populations of sea turtles, sharks, and other endangered marine species by advancing a vision of sustainable fishing practices and community based conservation work through scientific study, policy reform, targeted media use, grassroots activism, and strategic litigation.  Pretoma was one of the first environmental organizations to blow the whistle on the shark finning industry in the early 2000s when it captured rarely seen video of industrial fishing vessel crews catching sharks, cutting off their fins, and tossing them back into the ocean to drown. 

About ARCAE
ARCAE (Costa Rican Environmental and Educational Network) was founded in 2011 to better administrate Pretoma’s work in Southern Costa Rica.  The organization’s mission is to improve the quality of life for Costa Rica’s rural, coastal residents through environmental conservation, sustainable economic development opportunities, and by bridging the gap that exists between urban and rural educational systems.  Where Pretoma is more geared to national and international shark finning policy reform, ARCAE is developing and implementing sustainable fishing solutions and alternative employment options for coastal fisher folk.  These options are being replicated to have a greater impact on sustainable coastal development efforts and to stop the slaughter of sharks. 

ARCAE is also a research partner of Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment.   This blog is ARCAE’s official website.

Started in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, 1% for the Planet is a growing global movement of over 1,350 member companies in 43 countries that donate one percent of their sales to environmental organizations worldwide. Each day, more than one new business joins the 1% for the Planet movement. As a network, the 1% community has become a frontrunner in funding the work of environmental groups around the world. To learn more about 1% go to: www.onepercentfortheplanet.org
 
About ARCAE

ARCAE was founded on July 13, 2011.  by Andy Bystrom and Ingrid Rojas.  Ingrid is an educational psycologist and Andy has a background in non-profit administration and natural resource management.  It was founded in order to give the residents of Southern Costa Rica more resources to better combat the mounting pressures of large-scale international development initiatives that have little mind for the local community’s long term well being. 

In 2012 ARCAE is carrying out a visual marine fauna survey of the Golfo Dulce’s (Sweet Gulf) mouth.  Research is being done with members of the Pavones Artisanal Fishing Association.  The organization is also developing more research opportunities for national and international students.  These projects bring revenue into the community and employ local residents as research assistants.  ARCAE has been invited by the Punta Banco Development Association to assist in the construction of an aqueduct to bring fresh water to the entire town and surrounding areas.  Development Association members have also asked ARCAE to continue its environmental education campaign at the local elementary school and to help it apply for a Blue Flag Certification, a governmental program that certifies communities that develop garbage disposal, clean drinking water, and water treatment programs.

DiMaggio and Lambert will both ride to save sharks this summer (Photo: Gaylene Ewing)

In 2010 he and partner Gaylene Ewing, owner of Inktree Photography, combined his love of bike riding with this drive to save sharks and developed Spinning to End Finning, and 2 month long bike ride from Missoula, Montana to Pueblo, Colorado.  During the trip DiMaggio not only rode his bike, but he talked to people along the way about the important roles that sharks play in maintaining the stability of marine ecosystems and how finning is driving many species to the brink of extinction.  In addition, he raised money for the international anti-finning movement.  This year DiMaggio won’t be riding alone as he’s teamed up with Devon Lambert, a conservation biology student at the University of California at Davis to more affectively spread the campaign’s message.
Plans to do a second ride we’re announced on Spinning to End Finning’s blog on April 1st, and all donations raised will go to ARCAE and Pretoma, two Costa Rican environmental non-profits that work to stop shark finning and promote sustainable fishing practices. 

DiMaggio on his 2010 ride (Photo: Gaylene Ewing)

DiMaggio and his team’s efforts come at a critical time in the fight to stop shark finning.  Many states have recently adopted legislation that prohibits the buying and selling of shark fins.  But despite growing efforts to protect sharks, an estimated 30-75 million individuals are finned every year to feed the burgeoning shark fin soup industry in Southeast Asia.
More information will be available on the Spinning to End Finning blog regarding ways to donate, this year’s bike route, and updates from the riders as they pedal across the States.
If you would like more information about the 2012 Spinning to End Finning campaign, please write to its communications director, Gaylene Ewing, at spinningtoendfinning@gmail.com      gaylene.ewing@gmail.com

Children participate in a beach clean up. It took them only minutes to fill large trash bags with garbage found along their community's beach.

On March 16, 2012 the Costa Rican environmental and educational non-profit, ARCAE, hosted an educational workshop for the children of Punta Banco, a small coastal community located along Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific coast.  The event was part of the organization’s ongoing marine research and rural education initiatives in the area.

The event was originally designed to be a marine species educational workshop for the town’s 26 elementary school children.  Plans changed, however, when ARCAE members asked Punta Banco community leaders what they thought the town’s children should be exposed to.  As it turned out, parents and members of the school’s board of managers felt the event should focus on trash and the importance of proper garbage disposal. 

Kids decorated signs with "no littering" messages

Community members told ARCAE that a major town concern was all the trash left behind by tourists—mainly Costa Rican tourists who camp along the area’s beaches and leave them littered with garbage at the end of their vacations.  Residents said the problem is so bad that local children actually follow this poor example and dispose of their own trash in the same way. 

ARCAE learned that Punta Banco’s Development Association has purchased a number of large trash bins and will be placing them around the town at various camping areas.  Because of this initiative, residents felt the children’s educational workshop should be dedicated to the issue of proper garbage disposal.  Since hoards of tourists will flock to Punta Banco in 2 weeks for Semana Santa (Easter Week), various community members also felt it would be a good idea for the children to make signs to be hung up around town saying how all trash should be put in the new trash cans.

5 signs were made

And that’s how a marine fauna workshop evolved into a waste disposal workshop.  Various town members obtained scrap wood from construction sites to be used as signs.  When it came time for the event, the town’s children decorated these signs, participated in a beach clean-up, watched videos and presentations on the health risks associated with pollution, and completed a workbook created by ARCAE’s cofounder Ingrid Rojas.

If you would like more information on the methodology used to develop and implement this type of rural environmental education program, write to Ingrid at irojas07@hotmail.com.

The signs were then hung up around town by community members

The winning beach cleaning team!

Jon and Jose plug coordinates into the GPS during one of the project's marine survey boat trips in February.

ARCAE (The Costa Rican Environmental and Educational Network) volunteer Jon Schrank (USA) teaches Jose Cortez — a local sea turtle expert from Punta Banco, Costa Rica – how to use a GPS in order to mark the positions of marine fauna they observe during a visual census of the mouth of the Gulfo Dulce along Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific coast.  The study is part of ARCAE’s ongoing conservation programs, and it’s an example of how individuals from different backgrounds can work together to improve the state of the world’s oceans.

The research project has foreign researchers working with local residents on a visual marine fauna survey of the mouth of the Gulfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf).  Once a week, participants board a small local artisanal fishing boat at 6 am and travel a 50 km predetermined pattern through a portion of the project site.  The team takes the exact position with the GPS of any marine animal (sea turtle, dolphin, ray, whale, etc.) they see on the surface.  The project is providing information that will be used for marine management plans and for the creation of locally owned ecotourism businesses.    

The interchange of knowledge between Jon and Jose is an example of how foreign research volunteers can positively impact the residents of coastal communities in this country while being exposed to a wealth of new cultural experiences themselves.  If you would like more information on volunteer and research openings with ARCAE in Southern Costa Rica, please contact Andy Bystrom at a.bystrom@arcae.org.  Also, please see ARCAE’s announcement in this blog’s previous post. 

After each boat trip, the data is analyzed

Before this project, Jose had never used a GPS and Jon had never volunteered his GIS skills to anyone in Costa Rica