Development
Playa Grande, the primary beach used as the principle nesting
ground for leatherback turtles is alwasy under pressure by developers.
Primarily because of the beauty of the location and the smooth
Pacific beach.
For example, a developer promised a $50 million villages for
5,000 vacationers and full time residents along with a 150 boat
marina. It only would straddle the major nesting grown of leatherback
turtles.
Other projects, while much smaller in scale have slowly encroached
more and more and moved closer to the beach and the neighbouring
Tamarindo estuary.
The lights from nearby Tamarindo, a small but popular beach town
is also affecting nesting habits, since the turtles avoid any
bright lights.
To ensure that development was limited, the Costa Rican government
established Baulas National Park (Baulas
means leatherback in Spanish). It minimized development directly
on the beach, but developers still pressure the government to
open the surround areas to new projects.
