Costa Rica
Expropriates Land to
Protect Turtles
Costa Rican President
Oscar Arias has ordered
the expropriation of
lucrative beach-front
land to protect the
endangered leatherback
sea turtle, the
government said on
Thursday.
Arias began
expropriation procedures
for some 30 hectares (74
acres) of land in
northwestern Costa Rica,
the most important
leatherback sea turtle
nesting site on the
Pacific Rim, Energy and
Environment Minister
Roberto Dobles said.
"We are only complying
with the law that
established Las Baulas
(national marine park)
in 1995," Dobles told
Reuters.
Some of the expropriated
land owners, mostly
Europeans and U.S.
citizens, had resisted
the expropriation even
though the land was made
a national park by law
in 1995.
Environmentalists hailed
the move to protect the
turtles, which have been
declining in alarming
numbers in recent years.
"It will help us to
restore the population
of leatherback turtles
in the Pacific," said
Todd Steiner of the San
Francisco-based Turtle
Island Restoration
Network.
Environmentalists say 95
percent of leatherbacks
in the Pacific Ocean
have vanished in the
last 20 years due to
human activity like
fishing, poaching of
their eggs and building
near their nests.
Thousands of
leatherbacks built nests
at the Las Baulas
beaches 10 years ago but
the number has dropped
to below 100 in the last
five years.
Leatherbacks, which can
reach a shell length of
5.6 feet (1.7 meters)
and a weight of 1,543
pounds (700 kg), often
die after being
entangled in fishing
lines and nets |
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