Saturday 29 November
2008, San José, Costa
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Bill To Change The Boundaries of The Las
Baulas National Park Rejected
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Bill To Change The
Boundaries of The Las
Baulas National Park
Rejected
(Infocom) — The
Environmental
Subcommittee of the
Legislative Assembly
rejected three bills
tending to modify the
legislation that created
the Las Baulas National
Marine Park in
Guanacaste.
The bills that were not
approved were numbers
16,915 and 16,916 that
looked to revise the law
that created the park in
1991 and change its
boundaries so that it
would eliminate the
strict protection of
this spawning site for
the baula turtle, which
is in danger of
extinction.
The bill was based upon
the fact that Costa Rica
is internationally known
as the spawning area for
the baula turtle, which
is in danger of
extinction. However, the
baula turtle population
has decreased to levels
that predict a dramatic
reduction of this
species, to the point
that more than 1,800
turtles were spawned in
1988 and there were less
than 58 registered in
2007, according to the
document that the
Legislative Assembly
processed.
The document added that
according to the most
reliable scientific data
available, different
species of sea turtles
that migrate to our
territory are found to
be threatened or in
danger. Some of these
species could be in
imminent danger of
extinction and presently
several sea turtle
populations and large
species of animals that
live on the Pacific
coast have drastically
decreased in population.
In addition, the bill
recognized that this
scientifically showed
that the physical
characteristics of the
beaches where the baula
turtles nest are those
that are wide, long,
sandy and are free of
rocks and sharp objects,
with soft slopes that
end in a great and high
hillock where the
turtles can spawn their
eggs, like the beaches
Playa Grande and
Ventanas. In passing, it
left the initiative
buried to declare
October 15 as the
“National Day of the
Baula Turtle,” the date
that commemorates the
start of spawning season
of baula turtles.
Recently conservational
groups have demonstrated
about the expropriation
of the Las Baulas Marine
Park. The last of these
to demonstrate were the
representatives from the
Living Sea, the National
Turtle Network, and the
National Conservation
who requested the
Legislative Assembly to
reject the bills
mentioned previously
that proposed new
interpretations of the
law that created the Las
Baulas Marine Park.
Playa Grande is where 50
percent of these
reptiles come to nest.
The Las Baulas Park is
the main reproduction
site of these turtles in
the Occidental Pacific.
As for the boundaries of
the national park, the
initiative proposed that
the Santa Cruz
Municipality extend its
layout to include Zoning
Regulations from the
north sector of the
Ventanas beach to the
south sector of the
Langosta beach and its
annex, to all the
adjacent properties to
the Las Baulas National
Marine Park in
Guanacaste with the
purpose of reducing the
great amount of
contamination coming
from the Langosta beach,
Tamarindo beach, Playa
Grande beach, Ventana
beach, and Carbon beach
during baula turtle
spawning season. All of
these initiatives were
denied since the bills
were rejected.
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