Massive new marine protected area off Costa Rican coast

Leatherback turtles and hammerhead sharks will have chance to recover

March 2011: An enormous marine protected area around Cocos Island off the coast of Costa Rica is a beacon of hope for ocean health and human well-being in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and will offer endangered marine species such as hammerhead sharks and leatherback turtles - as well as fish stocks that are important to local communities - the chance to recover from increasing pressures, Conservation International (CI) said in reaction to a decree by the Costa Rican government.

SAFE HAVEN: Hammerhead sharks are still found in schools numbering in the hundreds around Cocos Island. Picture: Conservation International /Sterling Zumbrunn.

The protected area, called Seamounts Marine Management Area, extending nearly one million hectares - will be five times as large as the existing National Park around the Cocos Islands, currently a fully protected non-fishing zone covering nearly 200,000 hectares and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

To set this in context, the new Seamounts Marine Management Area is larger than Yellowstone National Park in the United States, and second only to Galapagos National Park in terms of marine protected areas in the Eastern Tropical Pacific.

Waters support more than 30 unique marine species
Located 550 km (342 miles) off the coast of Costa Rica in the Pacific Ocean, Cocos Island is just 20 km (12 miles) in circumference. It is dubbed ‘Shark Island' for the abundance of sharks that live in its waters, including white tipped reef sharks, whale sharks, and scalloped hammerhead sharks.

The waters around Cocos also support more than 30 unique, marine endemic species, which represents more than 40 per cent of the country's known total.

Signed by Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla Miranda at the beginning of the month, the declaration formalises the creation of the new marine protected area surrounding Cocos Island National Park to improve the conservation of this unique oceanic island, conserve an entire marine ecosystem, and protect a group of seamounts (underwater mountains) southwest of Cocos Island.

Underwater mountains are stepping sgtone for migratory whales, sharks, turtles and tuna 

SUSTAINABLE: Yellowfin tuna are protected by Cocos National Park. This helps maintain healthy populations levels that sustain highly valuable fisheries. Picture: Tony Fernández

‘Seamounts serve as stepping stones for long-distance, migratory species including sharks, turtles, whales and tuna. So we applaud the vision of the Costa Rican President in making this historic move.'

The expanded protected area, which is likely to include both fully protected and low-impact fishing zones, will encourage the sustainable management of fisheries resources and protect the scalloped hammerhead shark and the leatherback turtle, two threatened species that concentrate and feed in the new area, and two key ‘flagship' species for the Eastern Tropical Pacific.

Leatherback population has declined by 90 per cent in just 20 years

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED: A leatherback sea turtle, migrates from nesting beaches on coastal Costa Rica through Cocos's waters. Picture: Jason Bradley/bradleyphotographic.com

Leatherback turtles are listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Costa Rican population has declined by 40 per cent in the past eight years, and 90 per cent in the past 20, due in part to the loss of eggs to illegal harvest in nesting sites.

Scalloped hammerhead sharks are on the globally endangered species list, but are often targeted by fishermen for their fins, which attract high prices primarily for the Chinese market. Both scalloped hammerhead sharks and leatherback turtles are accidentally captured in commercial fishing operations.

Scott Henderson, regional marine conservation director for Conservation International said: ‘Costa Rica and its neighbours are enormously important centres of marine diversity and abundance that underpin valuable fisheries and tourism industries.

'This announcement reconfirms Costa Rica's role as a regional leader in green economic development - extending this approach from its land to its oceans. Tomorrow's fisheries will show that the expansion of Cocos benefits fishermen, too.'