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Marine Turtle Newsletter 106:16-17, © 2004

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

Two Sea Turtle Symposia Held in Costa Rica and Galápagos for Local Students (June 2004)

Julie Osborn
Conservation and Development Director, Ecology Project International, P.O. Box 9192, Missoula, MT 406-721-8784, USA (E-mail: julie@ecologyproject.org)

Ecology Project International (EPI) concluded its fifth season integrating Costa Rican students with leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) sea turtle conservation at the Pacuare Nature Reserve, Costa Rica, with its third annual Student Sea Turtle Symposium on June 19, 2004. Over 130 Costa Rican students and their teachers from ten high schools and two universities convened at EARTH University in Guápiles, Costa Rica to participate in this daylong forum alongside 20 conservation biologists from Pacuare Reserve, Asociación ANAI, PRETOMA, the Universidad Nacional de Heredia and EPI. Additionally, EPI hosted its first annual Student Sea Turtle Symposium at their project site in the Galápagos archipelago of Ecuador on June 10, 2004 for 30 local high school Ecuadorian students who assisted Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) biologists monitoring green turtles (Chelonia mydas), with their teachers, parents and representatives from CDRS and Galápagos National Park.

Through EPI’s Sea Turtle Ecology Program (STEP), students are directly involved in sea turtle research efforts occurring in their communities. They help biologists collect valuable data on sea turtles at critical nesting beaches on three to eight day field courses. They also design and conduct their own original research projects.

At both symposia, students conveyed how profoundly their field experience with leatherbacks and green turtles had impacted them. Their presentations included scientific posters detailing their research projects, a newscast-style video, artistic dioramas and student-designed t-shirts with the slogan “Las tortugas son mis amigas no mi comida” (Turtles are my friends, not my food). Costa Rican students performed original songs about patrolling for leatherbacks and protecting their nests from poachers (see below), and two high school groups described their experience initiating educational outreach in their communities and elementary schools through creative skits.

A valuable component of education, the student sea turtle symposium gives young adults a showcase for their work and inspires them to bring their field experience back to their communities, multiplying the impact of conservation efforts. Moreover, reflection is a critical stage for deep learning. As students prepare to present in a symposium, they inherently reflect upon their field experience and mentally reconstruct their comprehension of sea turtle ecology and conservation, an essential step in the formation of a conservation ethos.

For more information about the annual Student Symposium or EPI’s programs, please contact the author or visit the project’s website: <http://www.ecologyproject.org>.

Acknowledgements: Support for these events was provided by EARTH University and Rios Tropicales in Costa Rica, and Scuba Iguana and the Angelito Yacht in Ecuador.

The Leatherback
This song was written by Magaly Binns Duran, Ingrid Reyes Rodríguez, Mainor Duran Lopez, Cristian Duran Castillo, Adrian Arguedas Ruiz, first year Students at Colegio Técnico Profesional De Batán. This song was presented at the symposium in Karaoke style.

Here comes the leatherback,
I like to watch.
And when she’s laying eggs,
She’s the queen of the place.

I have to measure her
& help her out a little more
To protect her from the poachers
That want to steal her eggs.

Along the way I go looking
For a turtle to help,
Suddenly I trip and I start to cry.

The rain doesn’t stop &
I get soaked even more,
but I go limping onwards
To help the turtle.

And if I find a poacher
It’s going to go real bad for him
and if I catch him
He better start praying.

And the message of my group
Is to protect her even more
From all of the poachers
That want to kill her.

Here comes the leatherback,
I like to watch.
And when she’s laying eggs,
She’s the queen of the place.


A leatherback turtle returns to the sea after nesting (Photo: Conservation and Fisheries Department, British Virgin Islands).