For millions of years leatherbacks have nested at Playa Grande, a broad sandy beach on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Until recently, several thousand turtles came annually to mate in nearby waters. Every night from October to late February, giant females lumbered out of the sea and onto the beach to dig nests in the sand for their eggs. Weeks later, tens of thousands of hatchlings scrambled out of the nests and into the surf.

Today fewer than 180 leatherbacks nest at Playa Grande in any given year. The same is true at all leatherback beaches throughout their Pacific range. The drop in numbers of nesting females is due in part to deep-line and gillnet fishing off the Pacific Coast of the United States. These threats have been addressed by federal law prohibiting fishing at critical times of year, and adult turtles are safer today than they have been in decades.

Now the major threat to leatherbacks in the Pacific is loss of nesting beach and poaching of newly laid eggs. Unless poaching is controlled and nesting beaches are protected from unregulated development, leatherback sea turtles will be extinct in the Pacific Ocean.

Threats to Nests at Playa Grande
Playa Grande is the last important leatherback nesting beach in the eastern Pacific. Forested land immediately behind Playa Grande is in private ownership and will be developed within a few years unless it is purchased for incorporation into the bordering national park. Hotels, restaurants and private homes will drive leatherbacks away from Playa Grande, as they have from other Latin American beaches.

Hope for Leatherbacks at Playa Grande
Since 1995, the sandy beach and territorial waters at Playa Grande have been part of Parque Marino las Baulas (Leatherback National Marine Park), under full protection by the Costa Rican government and international conservation partners. Poaching has been eradicated and ecotourism has helped raise local incomes. Now the government has condemned the rainforest behind the beach to stop development, and conservationists are committed to raising money to purchase it.

We can help! Every penny, nickel, dime, quarter and dollar raised by children for Big Gift Playa Grande will help secure more precious beach for leatherback turtles. And funding from the Leatherback Trust will match all Big Gift donations!

Conservation at Las Baulas National Park
Protection of turtles and nests is the responsibility of national park guards. Research and conservation are conducted by scientists from Drexel, Duke and Indiana-Purdue universities through local and international conservation organizations, including The Leatherback Trust and Conservation International. The national park provides a museum with excellent turtle exhibits and an audio tour in Spanish, English and other languages.

Ecotourists are allowed on the park's beaches, where turtle nests are protected twenty-four hours every day. They may observe nesting turtles at night in the company of tour guides. Local groups, including Women Friends of Las Baulas National Marine Park, are helping residents develop small businesses based on increasing numbers of international tourists.