National Geographic in Costa Rica
(International Investigators in Costa Rica)
National Geographic had announced some time back that an international team of photographers and explorers would be visiting the Cocos Island, which is about 530 miles off the coast of Costa Rica in the Pacific.
The prestigious magazine has since revealed that the September visit was planned to investigate and inspect previously unexplored marine sites on and off these islands as part of their ‘Ocean Now’ initiative, which aims to record scientific data of the last remaining marine sites across the world.
In this context, one of the pristine sites identified by National Geographic was the ‘Las Gemelas’ (The Twins) seamount located just over 55 miles south of Cocos Island National Park. Enric Sala, an explorer with the organization and leader of this expedition, mentioned that the underwater research by different sets of diving teams forming part of the expedition is expected to record the first set of scientific data and images of this richly bio-diverse area, which has managed to remain unspoiled even now. This particular expedition would be the fore-runner for further underwater investigations across the tropical areas of the Eastern Pacific, especially around Costa Rica. Enric Sala had also mentioned that the whole of the Cocos Island biosphere plays a natural host to many vulnerable sea species which are being threatened by ever increasing illegal fishing activities. One of the tasks of the research would be to “understand the movements of these animals on a regional basis to design strategies for their preservation”. Other tasks of this expedition would be to test the effectiveness of using satellites to remotely monitor the protected areas in and around the island as well as to quantify the actual amount of illegal fishing currently taking place in the nearby waters.
Exclusive to the national Geographic initiatives, the Costa Rican environmental organization Sea Turtle Restoration Program (PRETOMA) declared they had been successful in attaching satellite transmitters to the backs of different species of turtles found on Cocos Island. This project, carried out during August has enabled biologists to monitor and track the movements of 1 Hawksbill and 3 Green turtles on their migratory routes across the Eastern Pacific and beyond. This follows the earlier successful attempt in March to locate and track the movements of 2 Green turtles, with the signals picked up by satellites whenever these creatures surfaced. PRETOMA also continued with its practice of placing acoustic transmitters on sharks, this time numbering 6 Hammerheads. This takes the total of tagged sharks which the organization has been continuously monitoring since 2005, to 60.
Echoing what Enric Sala had said, Randall Arauz, the president of PRETOMA said all these initiatives were taken to collect all the possible information to provide foolproof protection from indiscriminate industrial fishing to such magnificent and incredible creatures on their migratory travels thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean. Arauz suggested that the Costa Rican authorities should increase efforts to stop illegal fishing by increasing the protected sea area around Cocos Island, which in turn would allow the turtles and sharks endemic to that area to feed, breed and rest safely.