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San Juan, Jul 13 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star) – A group of poachers could have been responsible for the killing of an endangered hawksbill sea turtle that was found dead on a beach in Puerto Rico’s Efrain Archilla Diez Natural Reserve, officials said.

The Natural and Environmental Resources Department, or DRNA, said that during its preventive patrol work it discovered the remains of a sea turtle among the coastal vegetation on the beach.

The slain hawksbill was an adult female of reproductive age whose shell measured 36 inches (91.4 centimeters) long by 32 inches (81.2 centimeters) wide.

“In an atrocious act, poachers killed this turtle as it was nesting in the early hours. They took all the turtle meat and left only the shell, intestines and some eggs,” DRNA chief Carmen Guerrero said.

In a communique she said that “no eggs were left in the nest, so we can conclude that they also took most of the eggs,” and asked citizens to collaborate with “any information they can provide us to widen the scope of our investigation.”

“Any information, comment or confidential remark, however simple or small, will help us investigate this crime,” she said, adding that “to kill, harass, trap, buy or sell a sea turtle or part of one, or the eggs, or damage their nests, is a state and federal crime that can be penalized with a fine of up to $50,000 and up to 10 years in jail.”

She also said that “the nesting season of the hawksbill in Puerto Rico is beginning” and up to now 52 nests have been counted on the beaches of the reserve. EFE

Potential Return of the Species

Until recently, marine biologists believed that Eretmochelys imbricate would become completely extinct this decade. In the last couple of years, however, The Costa Rica Star has reported on the return of this species to our country’s Pacific and Caribbean coasts:

The few, critically endangered hawksbill sea turtles that still arrive in Costa Rica during nesting season may stop coming here altogether due to climate change.

 

In the 21st century, hawksbills have barely arrived on the beaches of the Pacific coast. On the Caribbean shores, the number of Eretmochelys imbricata nests at the Cahuita National Park has been dwindling over the last few years despite strong efforts to protect them; regrettably, there’s not much conservationists can do to stop beaches from disappearing.

 

According to an IPS news report by Diego Arguedas for El Pais, hawksbills may be shying away from nesting in Cahuita because the beach is getting too cramped. Park administrator Mario Cerdas explained to IPS that the eight kilometers of beaches in Cahuita are getting reduced due to erosion and rising sea levels. The beaches along this Caribbean stretch of coastline in Costa Rica are nesting sites not just for hawksbills but also leatherbacks, loggerheads, and green sea turtles.

Unfortunately, the return of the hawksbill to Costa Rica is being threatened by the nefarious work of poachers. Just like the above-mentioned incident in Puerto Rico, the Costa Rica Star recently reported on a grim finding by police officers in the Caribbean:

Five men were arrested earlier this week after police officers found them in possession of a butchered sea turtle from a virtually extinct species that is just starting to return to Costa Rica. According to an official communication from the Ministry of Public Security, the incident occurred in Moin, a coastal district of the Caribbean province of Limon.

 

Officers from Fuerza Publica, the national police force of Costa Rica, were manning a roadway checkpoint on a road that connects with the port of Moin. These roadblocks are mostly conducted to check for smuggling of narcotics and illicit goods that are offloaded at the docks; in this case, however, the Fuerza Publica officers found a slain sea turtle in the rear luggage compartment of a passenger vehicle.