LIMON – Officials from the National Coast Guard Service in Costa Rica patrolling the Pacuare Inlet sector in the Caribbean Zone caught three suspects who were preparing a crude field butchery of three leatherback sea turtles. The incident occurred during the early hours of Sunday while the Coast Guard was conducting a patrol mission specifically intended to look out for sea turtle poachers and butchers who operate under cover of darkness in the Limon province.

The three men arrested by the Coast Guard are all from the community of Batan. According to declarations by the officers, the suspects had already been engaged in the slaughter, as they had 43 kilograms of sea turtle meat and 72 eggs, which were promptly confiscated along with the carcasses. In previous operations involving the rescue of turtle eggs from poachers in Costa Rica, the Coast Guard has been able to turn them over to conservation groups who keep hatcheries along the beaches of the Caribbean. Aside from the sea turtle meat and eggs, officers also confiscated three marijuana plants and 112 grams packed for illicit retail. The suspects were turned over to prosecutors in Limon.

The Coast Guard has called upon the people of Costa Rica to report suspicious activity with regard to poaching along the coastal areas that have not been declared protected zones for sea turtles. Tortuguero in the Northern Caribbean is home to one of the largest marine turtle sanctuaries in the world, and Playa Ostional is also home to a unique sanctuary in which the community is allowed to take a controlled number of eggs in exchange for protection and vigilance of the species that massively arrive during nesting season. The desolate ocean lagoons of the Pacuare are part of a nature reserve, but they are often targeted by poachers; to this extent the Coast Guard has stepped up its patrols in the area.

The National Coast Guard Service in Costa Rica has recently received additional funding to augment its operations and prevent poaching of aquatic life. According to a June press release issued by the Ministry of Public Safety, the Coast Guard had 18 vessels; that number has more than tripled to 66. Almost half of the Coast Guard fleet in Costa Rica consists of vessels that have been confiscated from suspects. Now that Costa Rica has a new Maritime Governance Commission, a National Marine Police has been planned to complement the operations by the Coast Guard.

In other news from the National Coast Guard Service, 28 officers returned to Costa Rica from Colombia, where they participated in specialized training to increase their knowledge of drug interdiction operations in coastal areas of our country. Costa Rica now has 31 officers with special training in maritime law enforcement as well as search and rescue operations, and many of them participated in humanitarian missions in Haiti after the catastrophic earthquake of 2009.