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Marine Turtle Newsletter 13:14, © 1979

Costa Rica: Veto of Proposal to Reduce Tortuguero Park

(Based on information supplied by A. Carr, Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, USA)

A proposal was recently made to move the seaward limits the Tortuguero National Park closer in toward the shore. One reason advocated for allowing turtling nearer inshore was that exceptionally large numbers of turtles nested there last year, 1978. However, this was probably just part of the unexplained fluctuations in turtle populations that often occur from one year to the next; this year, 1979, far fewer green turtles than usual have nested at Tortuguero. The bill that would have reduced the park boundaries was passed but was then vetoed by President Rodrigo Carazo of Costa Rica.