Save the Sea Turtles

Dear Friend, 

We have some exciting new updates about our sea turtle efforts that you’re supporting!

• Over the last six months, your support has enabled us to protect over 92 endangered green turtles and 3 critically endangered hawksbill nests. Our team of community rangers, together with local volunteers has been working round the clock during this time period, making sure that the nests are not damaged by other animals like dogs and vultures, while also keeping watch out for additional nests. Thank you for making this possible.

• The InvestEGGator decoy sea turtle egg that you helped us to launch was featured on The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation with Mo Rocca on CBS!  Our executive director Dr. Sarah Otterstrom and conservation scientist Dr. Kim Williams-Guillén were interviewed about our remarkable technology that is helping save sea turtles! We couldn’t be more thankful to our donors for supporting us on our journey. From science articles to our GlobalGiving campaign to being on this show, you’ve been with us all along and for that, we are so grateful. You can find our segment on Youtube. We would like to share that the eggs are being deployed in south america and the Caribbean this winter, providing law enforcement with critical information.

• In our latest efforts to make sure that baby sea turtles enter the ocean safely, 7 our Junior Rangers who have assisted the adult ranger team, helping a nest of over 65 hatchlings return to the sea!
• We participated in Sea Turtle Talks, a Twitter event that gathers scientists all across the world to present their research in a series of tweets. Our presentation was about the subpopulation of Eastern Pacific Hawksbills in Central America. Our presentation shed light on the turtle and our efforts to track uncovered that female adult hawksbill sea turtles in the region are spending much of their time in mangrove estuaries where they feed and can be safer from boats and nets.
• Paso Pacifico rangers, Junior Rangers and hotel Rancho Santana came together to participate in the International Coastal Cleanup in September. Together, they cleaned up 5 nesting beaches, making room for female turtles to nest safely on the beach!
• Our community rangers had the opportunity to witness Eastern Green Sea Turtles mating during an ocean survey made possible by your support! You are helping us protect a region that is one of the most important breeding sites for green sea turtles in Central America.

We are so thankful for your love for sea turtles! Your passion fuels our conservation work and keeps sea turtles protected.

Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year,

Sarah Otterstrom

Executive Director

Links:

• CBS Innovation Nation Feature story of InvestEGGator decoy egg

Dear Friend,

We are endlessly thankful for your support as we continue to aid the conservation of sea turtles around the world. Through the investEGGator project, you are making crime-stopping technology available to international conservation partners. Because of your donations, you’ve helped us create solutions to further prevent the poaching of endangered species. Your support is enabling the protection of nesting sea turtles. Here are some of the wonderful developments we’ve made thanks to your generous donations:

• In a continuation of our efforts to combat the trafficking of sea turtle eggs, we’ve partnered with an NGO to deploy a batch of our investEGGator decoy eggs in the Caribbean. The tracking data that these decoy eggs generate will help conservationists map the sea turtle egg trafficking routes. Sea turtle egg trade and consumption has continued throughout the pandemic and remains a major threat. Thanks to your support, conservationists around the world are employing our technology in the fight against sea turtle trafficking.

• The investEGGator continues to draw interest due to its innovative tech. We were recently interviewed for the CBS television show Innovation Nation about our efforts to save the sea turtles, including the innovative way that we have employed 3D printing and GPS/GSM tracking devices to create the investEGGator eggs. The episode is set to premiere in the fall of this year. 

• Your support has helped to expand nesting sea turtle protection to additional beaches. Paso Pacifico sea turtle rangers carried out a training workshop at a hotel resort in Tola, Nicaragua in preparation for nesting season. As part of the workshop, our rangers were advised on how to build a turtle nursery structure to aid the sea turtles.

• Though COVID-19 has led to an increase in poaching pressure, our rangers have continued working to ensure that the hatching process safely runs its course and that sea turtles are protected. During the past six months, we have protected and released over 500 sea turtle hatchlings, primarily green sea turtles.

• The eastern Pacific leatherback turtle is critically endangered. Without a major change in course, it will likely disappear by 2050. You made it possible for us to attend a multi-day planning workshop with experts across Latin America to consider emergency measures like rearing juvenile turtles in captivity. Everyone involved vowed to try to save this incredible marine turtle.  

• This week, 31 children participated in a field trip to the beach where they learned about sea turtle conservation, a trip that proved to be fruitful in ways unprecedented. Many of these kids, being from the inlands, had never been to the beach or seen sea turtles before. Such experiences build up the next generation and help the children value sea turtles and their ocean home.

Thanks again for your incredible support and we hope you have a beautiful July!

Sincerely,

Sarah and the Paso Pacifico team!