Latin American Sea Turtles – LAST

LAST (Latin American Sea Turtles) Association (formerly WIDECAST-Costa Rica) is a Costa Rican group with 11 members and a directive board of 5, working together to make a change in sea turtle conservation. We are a member of WIDECAST, an international scientific network with country coordinators resident in more than 40 countries and territories of the Wider Caribbean Region. Our field teams are integrated by local assistants with unparalleled experience in sea turtle research and conservation, people with vast experience working with volunteers and environmental enthusiasts developing creative strategies to avoid the extinction of these species.

The project is located a remote Caribbean beach in Costa Rica, 2km north of the Pacuare river mouth. It covers 7.1 km of coastline of a black sand barrier, surrounded by tropical rain forest and several coastal lagoons and palm swamp forests. The beach is part of the 50 km stretch between Tortuguero National Park (famous for its sea turtles) on the north Caribbean coast and the Port of Limón city.

The area is not only unique in every way but is also a famous nesting site for many Leatherback, Hawksbill and Green sea turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs. Illegal egg poaching and hunt for sea turtles, pollution and beach erosion are threatening the survival of the already critically endangered Sea Turtles in Pacuare. This has caused an alarming decline in turtles being born on this beach. In particular, the 7.1 km covered by the project, for it has no legal protection whatsoever. Volunteers play a very important role in changing the status of the turtles.