This Turtle Eggs Harvesting Thing in Costa Rica

The Lie That Will Not Die

I must have received certainly no less than 1,000 emails from people very upset about a very misleading (I call it fraudulent) email they received showing a number of photos of “Costa Ricans” happily gathering up what appears to be every turtle egg ever laid in this country.

I am STILL receiving these emails regularly.

They call for boycotts of Costa Rica.  They say “SHAME to the people of Costa Rica” and I can assure you, much worse. One advocated violence!

The problem? This whole thing is 100% crappola!

If this topic interests you… read on!

What truly amazes me, though at my age, I suppose it should not, is how dumb one has to be to believe those unsolicited emails sent to just about anyone who has an email address. What possesses someone to BELIEVE the crap that gets generated every day by someone with an agenda you will never know or understand?  I get them all the time on Obama.  I am particularly not a fan of Obama, but the stuff I get is just stupid. I also received a TON of ’em about George W. when he was in office.  I just received two this week on Donald Trump (though the comment therein about his hair was about right on).

People… if anyone is out there reading this… PLEASE stop auto-believing the junk you get via email, Facebook, etc. Turn ON your brain and verify the facts independently. Never use the email “Forward” button without first engaging your brain.

The Internet and especially the main social networks like Facebook and Twitter are powerful beyond normal reasoning, and stuff like this turtle egg baloney “goes viral” in a blink. Nobody verifies!

Adding to the issue are about ten zillion bloggers who simply seem incapable of taking a few minutes to research the facts before putting their words in “print”.

Some do though!  Regarding this turtle eggs thing, one responsible blogger apparently DID take a few minutes out of his life to verify before jumping on the bandwagon.  His Blog, Bardiness, gives the facts. I have no idea who he is… clearly though, he has no future working for the NY Times, MSNBC, CBS etc. or the many others who never permit facts to interfere with their agenda.

Another blogger (and in this case, a researcher) wrote last SEPTEMBER, about this turtle egg thing,  Read it here.

Sadly, those bloggers and others are just wasting their time as theses days as folks just seem to not care about the facts at all… especially if there is something sensational underlying the “truth”.

I certainly understand how awful it is when the facts conflict with my opinion, so when blogging, I DO try for accuracy and when it is opinion vs fact, I try to so state.

If you did not read those other links (shame on you!) to get the full story, here are come comments/excerpts. Read them. Then, if you get one of those stupid emails, reference my blog or the two mentioned above and tell the person who sent you that junk to just stop (and get a life).

From one of my readers:

About harvesting turtle eggs here in Costa Rica. On the shores of Playa Guiones the olive back turtle lays its eggs. The government entered into a contract with the locals stating that the can harvest the first laid eggs and no others. In reture the locals with protect the young turtles from harm by dogs,birds etc. and insure that most make it to the water. I was there and seen for myself. Now the reason for the harvesting of the first laid eggs is because of the hundreds of turtles coming ashore and crushing and devastating the majority of the first laid. If no agreement was met by the two parties then the locals would harvest all the eggs possible. Since the majority of first laid are destroyed it the agreement is beneficial for both parties. The eggs are sold by locals to offset their income. Yes a picture speaks a thousand words but people like Greenpeace do not present both sides of the story.

or from the ICT

San José, Costa Rica. 02.17.2010.

A chain of emails is circulating on the Internet with false information regarding the Conservation and Use of Ridley Sea Turtle Eggs Project (Lepidochels olivacea) at the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge in Guanacaste. There are 12 photos of the legal gathering of eggs accompanied by text labeling it as “theft” and an “international shame.”The Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT) seeks to clarify that the images actually represent a model of sustainable development in the Ostional community, approved in 1990 by executive order N° 28203-MINAE-MAG, law N° 8325 of the Protection, Conservation, and Recovery of Sea Turtle populations enacted on November 28th, 2002 and by law N° 8436 of Fishing and Agriculture on April 25th, 2005. 

The legal use and allotment of resources plan, far from being an embarrassment, is the pride of the country and has been applauded and recognized by national and international scientists.

The Ostional National Wildlife Refuge witnesses up to 200,000 Olive Ridley turtles during the rainy season and about 15,000 in the dry season. Upon their arrival, the sea turtles lay thousands of eggs and destroy a large portion of them as they return to the ocean.

That’s why, under the sustainability development concept, the nearby rural areas are allowed to remove a specified amount for commercial purposes in Costa Rica under the Ostional Internal Development Association (ADIO in Spanish).

ADIO assures a rational use of the eggs and avoids massive and uncontrolled removal by communities. The association works together with the Environment, Energy, and Telecommunications Ministry (MINAET), the Costa Rica Institute of Fishing and Agriculture (INCOPESCA), and the Biology Department of the University of Costa Rica.

Only ADIO has permission to commercialize turtle eggs in the country, packed in sealed bags displaying the association’s logo and sold with corresponding invoices. Any other consumption is illegal.