Save the Sea Turtles

Dear Friend,

Thanks to your support, we have worked towards greater use of the investEGGator technology to protect sea turtles. We have also been able to sustain our community ranger team during these difficult times. Here are just a few of the developments made possible by your generous donations:

• Earlier this month, the prestigious journal Current Biology published a paper about successful InvestEGGator field trials in Costa Rica. The research was carried out by doctoral student Helen Pheasey from the University of Kent in the UK in collaboration with Paso Pacifico. The study deployed over 100 decoy eggs on both the Caribbean and Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Result demonstrated that nearly a quarter of the eggs were stolen by trafickers. Stolen eggs mostly remain in the coastal and tourism areas, but that a portion of them end up in markets over 100 km away in urban centers.
• We have enjoyed  sharing the results of this study, and at a time when there is so much negative news, the news media has really embraced our positive study results, including BBC, The Economist, The Guardian, NPR's All Things Considered and PRI's The World, Reuters, and over 100 other news outlets from around the world. Congratulations, you are part of these news stories too!
• We look forward to deploying the investEGGator more globally. The South American government which purchased eggs from us earlier this year has solicited a new batch. They must have found them to be a useful tool! Two other countries have reached out to us about deploying the investEGGator in their country, one in Southeast Asia, and another in Central America.
• Thanks to your help, we have been able to continue our community ranger patrols of beaches. Thank you. So far this year, our sea turtle program has had a low number of nesting endangered green turtles (23) relative to other years (average 50). Our community rangers have protected 60 olive ridley nests to date in 2020. One really bright now is that we have successfully protected 4 hawksbill nests, a critically endangered species. 
• We have other positive development to share, including a new partnership in Eastern El Salvador to support a community-led sea turtle monitoring program, and a new partnership with the Autonomous University of Nicaragua in Leon to share sea turtle nesting data and to empower students interested in working with us for their undergraduate thesis projects.

Thank you so much for helping us to roll out the investEGGator technology to stop wildlife crime, and for making it possible for our team of rangers to protect nesting beaches in Central America. Have a beautiful day!

With gratitude,

Sarah

Paso Pacifico