Gringos, Ticos and Turtles

Bob had just purchased a bag of sea turtle eggs for 50 dollars with a quasi agreement that the bar owner would never buy or sell eggs again. Bob was appalled about people eating the eggs of an endangered species and he believed that by buying out all the eggs from this one bar, he was taking an important moral stand. He hoped that the owner would stop selling eggs, and that this would raise awareness about this critical issue within the local population.

After Bob wandered into another conversation, Tom told us he was frustrated with Bob?s lack of respect and understanding for the complexities of the issue. Such as the fact that there is a sustainable harvest project in Costa Rica that needs to be supported, and that it is the sole source of revenue for the inhabitants of Playa Ostional, on the Nicoya Peninsula, in the country?s northwestern region of Guanacaste.

Bob?s primary concern is a valid one due to the fact that sea turtles are endangered. In fact, there exists an international treaty dedicated to this issue, brought about by the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles. The issue of local subsistence use was of major concern in the drafting of this treaty. In the current draft, countries now have the power to make their own decisions on this issue. The Costa Rican law, The Protection Conservation and Recovery of the Marine Turtle Population, allows for a limited and managed harvest of eggs in Ostional.

Ostional is one of two beaches in Costa Rica where massive synchronized nesting takes place. This phenomenon called, "arribada" is when thousands of turtles converge on beach for 3-9 days and lay millions of eggs. Humans are not the only predators. Vultures and iguanas take their share at will. In Ostional the regularity and abundance of these arribadas supports the worlds only legal harvesting operation. The Local Development Association is in charge of oversight, and they are empowered by both the Ministry of the Environment and the Fisheries Institute of Costa Rica. We were able to observe this amazing event live on television while eating at a small cafe in the coastal town Quepos, on November 7. All local eyes were watching the monitor intently, and possible with pride, as the news program frequently returned to the image of 200 lb marine turtles and Costa Ricans interacting and coexisting.

Apparently the Atenas bar owner had some awareness of the issue. Tom said, as they were leaving the bar with the bag of eggs and $50 poorer, the owner came running out to show them the bag they came in, with the Ostional label. He was concerned that they thought he was buying from an illegal source and wanted to assure them he was a legitimate businessman. We do not know if that information made any difference to Bob or not. Considering how limited his Spanish was, he probably did not understand the exchange until Tom translated it to him later. Sadly, this confrontation will probably have no effect on the consumption and harvesting dynamics in Costa Rica, but will most likely have a negative and damaging effect on the relationship between Bob, Tom and the local bar owner.

There are conservation organizations all over the world dedicated to the conservation of migratory sea turtles and their habitat PRETOMA is a Costa Rican organization- a group of biologists, naturalists, conservationists, and citizens dedicated to the protection, conservation, and restoration of sea turtle populations. They protect their habitats in Central America, as well as in international waters- helping the turtles in all stages of their life.

Traditionally, conservation organizations have been cold toward any type of harvesting of endangered or threatened species. However, it has become increasingly obvious that recovery of these species is dependent on the sustainability of the local communities that both harvest, as well as aid the hatchlings to the sea. This is a unique issue due to the fact that the sea turtles are a migratory species and require the cooperation of all the countries within the migratory range where they visit and lay eggs. The signing of this international treaty is critical to the survival of these ancient animals.

After some computer research, and information gathered from the local people of Atenas, we decided to do some further investigation. If there is a legal sustainable harvest of turtle eggs in Costa Rica, we knew we could find them for sale. So we decided to take a 45-minute bus ride to the city of Alujuela, where you can find everything from local cheeses, Reeboks, pickled pigs feet and herbal remedies harvested from the tropical rainforest, all within the regional open-air market. A vendor of meats and cheeses told us we could find turtle eggs at Siete Mares, a seafood stand just a couple of rows over. The owner was a middle-aged woman named Flora, very friendly and quite willing to talk about the eggs she sold.

She buys them from Ostional, and showed us the bag with the required legal label. They come in bags of 200 eggs, which she purchases locally from men who bring them to town. She gets them for 4,000 Colones (US$10), and then sells for 5,000 Colones (US$12.50) to bars, such as the one in Atenas where Bob found them. She also sells single eggs in the form of bocas, a local favorite. These are served raw in a shot glass with sangrita, a spicy tomato sauce, for 600 Colones (US$1.50). The government fixes the price of turtle eggs to one-half that of hen eggs, to help maintain a low demand. When asked whether illegal poaching occurs in Costa Rica, she said she was sure there was, but was more than confident she had a legal source. Interestingly, a man sitting next to us at the little fish stand, listening to our conversation while eating ceviche, chimed in and said he would have no problem buying and selling illegally harvested eggs, if that is what it took for him to survive. He refused to give his name or allow his photo to be taken for this story.

Flora offered us some personal insight into the cultural traditions of turtle consumption. She told us that her grandfather used to eat turtle meat in his hometown of Turrialba, throughout his life. She said back then eating turtles and their eggs was never questioned. Today more people are aware of the plight of these great creatures and the need to protect and conserve them and their habitat. Many people, including ourselves, believe that in order to conserve a species of plant or animal, we must work with the people that depend on that species for their own survival. We may be far from reaching a solution, but at least in Ostional, there is a management plan in effect, which integrates, local, national and international laws. Hopefully it will be a successful example of a method to maintain a local culture and preserve the sea turtles and respect their interdependency with humans.