Leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) have inhabited the oceans for millions of years, surviving the extinction of the dinosaurs. These magnificent creatures are the world’s largest living reptiles, perhaps challenged only by the Nile River crocodile. They have an average weight that ranges from 400 to 500 kilograms, and an average carapace length of 2 meters.  The largest specimen ever recorded was an individual that stranded along the coast of Wales. It as almost 3 meters long and weighed over 900 kilos (Download a Leatherback Fact Sheet).

Leatherbacks formerly nested abundantly throughout the beaches of the Eastern Pacific. Its main nesting beaches were located in Mexico, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.  Unfortunately, leatherback sea turtles are vanishing before our very eyes. Playa Grande, in Las Baulas National Park, formerly harbored one of the species’ main nesting sites, but the population has dropped drastically (population decline graph). Optimistic estimates indicate that only about 30,000 leatherbacks remain worldwide. Eastern Pacific leatherbacks are suffering the worst crisis, with an estimated population of only 3,000. This species could be extinct from the Pacific Ocean in 15 years if we don’t reverse the tragic current trend (Nature article). Sadly, leatherbacks are classified as critically endangered of extinction by the World Union for the Conservation of Nature.

• Poaching of nests for local commerce. In Latin America, there is a generalized false belief among the population that sea turtle eggs are aphrodisiac. Some nesting beaches have suffered 100% poaching rates for the last decades.
• Alteration of habitat for beach developments to satisfy the tourism industry. Hotel developments tend to illuminate nesting beaches and thus alter the dark pristine conditions that leatherbacks need to nest. Lights don’t only discourage adults from nesting, they also disorient hatchlings. Furthermore, the massive visitation of tourists with no control may severely impact nesting turtle behavior.
• Incidental capture and death during high seas commercial fishery operations. Currently, an indiscriminate industrial fishery is being carried out in the Eastern Pacific, which targets pelagic species of fish (marlin, sailfish, swordfish, tuna, mahi mahi, sharks), using longlines.

What can we do to save leatherback turtles from extinction?

• Find out about the work carried out between the longline fishermen of Playas del Coco, Guanacaste, and PRETOMA, to solve this problem.
• Sign the letter addressed to Abel Pacheco, the President of Costa Rica, to protect sharks from over fishing.
• Support the approval of the Law to Extend the Leatherbacks of Guanacaste Marine National Park, in Playa Grande, Costa Rica.
• Support the resolution signed by the participants of the International Leatherback Survival Conference, carried out from April 21 to 25 of 2002, in the Asilomar Conference Center, Monterrez, California, and add your signature to a sign on letter addressed to Koffi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, and published on February 18 of 2003 in the New York Times, calling on a United Nations moratorium on longline fishing in the Pacific Ocean until these activities can be carried out without negatively impacting endangered marine species. This international campaign is coordinated by the Global Response Network and the Sea Turtle Restoration Project
• Support organizations that protect leatherback turtles, such as the Leatherback Trust, and the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, or who are working on an international prohibition on shark finning, WildAid, Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

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