Sea Shepherds Operation Jairo: Protecting Endangered Sea Turtles in Florida, Honduras and Costa Rica

CRS is a supporter of the environment, the oceans and marine wildlife. It has been 100% carbon-free since 2005 and plants trees in the National Forest on its significant anniversaries. We have supported Sea Shepherd Conservation Society since 2007, and we’re pleased to share occasional briefings on their campaigns.
Today, Sea Shepherd announces sea turtle defence campaign Operation Jairo, to take place this summer in three regions critical to nesting sea turtles and their hatchlings – south-eastern Florida, Honduras and Costa Rica.
Among the sites to be patrolled by Sea Shepherd volunteers this season is Moin Beach in Costa Rica’s Limón province, the site of the tragic murder of young turtle conservationist Jairo Mora Sandoval, for whom Sea Shepherd has named both a vessel and this upcoming campaign in honour of his work to protect the turtles he cherished so deeply.
Six of seven species of sea turtles are on the brink of extinction. The odds are against these endangered marine animals from the start, with an average of only one in 1,000 hatchlings surviving to adulthood. Sea Shepherd’s Operation Jairo campaign will span the peak nesting months for sea turtles in all three locations, in an effort to save as many hatchlings as possible – giving the next generations of these endangered species a fighting chance at survival.

In Florida, Sea Shepherd will work with Sea Turtle Oversight Protection (S.T.O.P.) to guide hatchlings safely to the ocean from their nests on the beaches of Fort Lauderdale, and to ensure that municipalities adhere to and enforce commercial lighting ordinances put in place to protect turtle hatchlings who can become disoriented by light along the beaches, heading away from the sea and toward dangerous roadways.
Following turtle defence campaigns in Honduras and Costa Rica in 2014, Sea Shepherd will return to once again conduct nightly beach patrols to protect endangered hawksbill, green and leatherback sea turtles at risk from poachers in search of nesting turtles to be killed for meat and their eggs to be sold. During Sea Shepherd’s Operation Pacuare in Costa Rica in 2014, nearly 3,000 sea turtles were saved.

Sea Shepherds offers our readers to join Operation Jairo: It is accepting applications for dedicated and passionate volunteers in all three campaign locations who are at least 18 years of age and who are able to commit to participating in the campaign for a period of two-weeks or longer. Sea Shepherd is also seeking volunteers with training and/or a professional background in videography and photography to assist with campaign media production, and those who are fluent in Spanish. Anyone interested in joining Operation Jairo, should please visit: www.SeaShepherd.org/get-involved/ground-crew