The National Coast Guard Service of Costa Rica will be augmenting its marine and shore patrols in the Pacuare sector of the Caribbean province of Limon. According to a news report filed by Angie Guerrero of online news daily CRHoy.com, four to five Coast Guard officers per shift will be assigned to patrol Pacuare in light of the attacks on volunteers from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star through a media release from Sea Shepherd:

A group of 11 volunteers working with [Sea Shepherd’s] Sea Turtle Defense Campaign Operation Jairo were physically attacked by poachers last night during a peaceful patrol of Costa Rica’s Pacuare Beach to locate and protect nesting endangered turtles and their eggs. Two volunteers sustained minor injuries.

Upon spotting the Sea Shepherd crew, which included a media team as well as beach patrol volunteers, a group of poachers immediately approached and, unprovoked, began to attack the unarmed Sea Shepherd volunteers with branches and machetes. Initial reports indicate that more than 10 poachers were involved in the attack.

Coast Guard Director Martin Arias explained to CRHoy.com that:

We have a large operation in the Caribbean, but what happens is that we cannot be present in every beach or every coastal community. We would need a lot of officers for that. What we are doing now is increasing our presence until this incident is thoroughly investigated. We only had one or two officers patrolling the beaches on every shift, but we cannot cover all of them because they are long stretched of coastline, it would be impossible [to patrol all of them.]

Director Arias also indicated that the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ) is also investigating confidential reports about feuding non-profit organizations in Costa Rica, which also intend to protect marine resources, but whose members do not receive as much material support as Sea Shepherd.

Earlier this week, Operation Jairo volunteers were in the capital city of Costa Rica, waiting out the bad weather conditions and planning the next phase of their mission. They were busy trying to acquire Kevlar vests and handheld radios, and they were also trying to retain armed security personnel to escort them while on the beach. Sea Shepherd is considering joining forces with WideCast, a non-profit that is also dedicated to protecting sea turtles in the Caribbean.