Description

ASVO (Association of Volunteers for Service in Protected Areas)is a Costa Rican organization that is dedicated to maintaining and preserving national parks, communities and beaches throughout Costa Rica. The organization was started in, was founded on January 27, 1989 in the response to the growing realization that although Costa Rica is renowned for their natural resources and biodiversity, there was very little awareness around environmental protection by many people who lived in Costa Rica. Originally focusing on the preservation of national parks, the program eventually expanded to include sea turtle conservation, community education and habitat identification.

ASVO is a non-profit and non-governmental organization whose mission is to promote the importance of preserving the environment by operating a number of grass-root conservation projects and conducting a variety of educational workshops throughout the country. Over the years environmental issues such as deforestation, species extinction, forest fires, and climate change have been addressed by the members of ASVO as they have worked to expand their programs through the country.

ASVO places volunteers in national parks and other areas protected by the Ministry of Environment and Energy all over the country. The organization currently has stations in twenty-eight different locations all over Costa Rica, from Corcovado in the south to Guanacaste in the north. These projects are divided into four categories: Wildlife Refuges, Education and Communities, Sea Turtle Projects and National Parks.

Leatherback Sea Turtles have been on Earth for over 65 million years. They have been around since the dinosaurs!

Their habitat spans the globe from the North Atlantic and the Arctic Circle to the South Pacific of New Zealand. Extraordinary creatures, they hold important secrets about biology and medicine yet to be learned by humans.

Leatherbacks are the largest turtle, reaching a shell length of 1.7m and a mass of 700kg. In 1980 there were over 115,000 adult females, but there are now less than 25,000 worldwide – they are nearing extinction. If action is not taken soon to protect Leatherbacks in the ocean and on nesting beaches the Leatherback will disappear in our lifetime.

It is very necessary to protect and investigate the sea turtles that come to the area of Los Quelonios as well as to promote conservation habits in local inhabitants through environmental education.

This placement experiences one the highest volumes of Leatherback nesting and hatching in all of Costa Rica. Because of its remote location, it is often ignored by the coastguard and is targeted by poachers. The more volunteer assistance they have, the great the chances of combating poaching and increasing the nesting and birth rates of the Leatherback turtle.

Task 1. The main work of the volunteers involves night patrols and hatchery shifts. There are three nightly patrols; one from 8:00 p.m. to 12 midnight, one from 10 pm to 2 am, and one from 12 pm to 4 am. A shift of volunteers walk a sector of the 11 km beach searching for nesting females, led by an experienced patrol leader.

Once a turtle is encountered on a night patrol the volunteers work directly with the turtle, taking carapace and nest dimension measurements, collecting eggs and tagging the rear flipper of the turtle.

The collected eggs are then relocated on the beach or taken to the hatchery, where the volunteers on shift will build a new nest to specification and transplant the eggs. The number of eggs, nest location and turtle identification information (tag number) is then recorded by the hatchery attendant for further data analysis including hatchling survival rate.

Task 2. Other daytime work at the project may involve beach cleanup.

Task 3. Small projects, including initial construction of the hatcheries.

Task 4. Caring for hatcheries. The approximate incubation time for leatherback Turtle eggs is 60 days, therefore midway through the season, the duties of the hatchery attendants increases as the hatchlings are encountered. These must be counted and released in the evening to an appropriate location along the high tide line and watched until they reach the sea, We should not release the hatchlings directly on the sea.

Task 5. Environmental education activities to the Pacuare inhabitants and other close communities.

Volunteers can also help the research assistants and biologists by collecting specimens and helping with extra tasks assigned by them. See other entries under \’Estacion Los Quelonios\’.

Volunteers are required to work 6 days a week, 7-8 hours per day in different schedules
during the day and night.

URL: http://www.basecampvolunteerabroad.com/sites/bc-volunteer-abroad/place_details.cfm?pl_id=764
Tags: conservation, Costa Rica, volunteer, volunteering
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