The beaches of the Osa Peninsula provide critical nesting habitat for three species of sea turtles – Chelonia mydas agassizii, commonly known as Pacific Green, Dermochelys coriacea, known as Leatherback, and Lepidochelys olivacea, or Olive Ridley. The Olive Ridley is the most common, with more than 1500 individuals per season visiting the area to lay their nests. After Nancite and Ostional National Parks, the Osa's pacific beaches are considered the most important nesting area for these species, which are all endangered or critically endangered, in Costa Rica.

In the short term, our program confronts the threat to sea turtles posed by human poaching and feral and domestic predation. In the long term, research by our staff biologists provides crucial information on effective protection and management of these sea turtle species in many regions around the world.

What Can You Do?

We ask anyone interested in helping to conserve struggling sea turtle populations to follow the following simple rules, not just here on the Osa, but on nesting beaches worldwide.
 

• DO NOT touch or disturb nesting sea turtles hatching in their nests. In many countries, including Costa Rica,  sea turtles are protected by governmental law.
  
  

• Avoid walking on the beach with a flashlight.  If you do, avoid shining the light directly at the sea turtles, which will cause female turtles to abandon their nesting process and discourage other turtles from coming ashore to nest.
  
  

• Do not take pictures at night using the flash, for this high intensity light can be even more disturbing than a flashlight .
  
  

• Try to remember to turn off the lights in your house to prevent the indoor lights from illuminating the beach.  In general, light disturbs nesting sea turtles and can disorient hatchlings.
  
  

• Do not disturb marked sea turtle nests while enjoying the beaches during the day.
  
  

• During the day, avoid taking your dogs to nesting beaches, and try to tie up your dogs at night.
  
  

• In our projects we tag turtles through the season using inconel tags (Codes OSA 00001 - OSA 01000).  If you find one of these tags or any tags, please contact us or send the tag to AA 13700 - 1000 San José, Costa Rica.  This is valuable information for us because it helps us understand the movements of the turtles during their stay at the Osa Peninsula and once they start the migration process to their feeding areas in Mexico.