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Alexander Gaos, co-founder of ICAPO, our partner in sea turtle conservation, is featured in the latest issue of Conservation Magazine. They call him the Turtle Whisperer.
Today is Endangered Species Day!
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has declared May 20, 2011 Endangered Species Day to recognize the importance of protecting endangered species, to acknowledge the ongoing work of conservationists, and to commemorate the victories of the Endangered Species Act. Numerous species have been pulled from the brink of extinction thanks to the hard work of conservationists like those working with Paso Pacifico. Today, as we celebrate our successes, we must...
The Flip Side of Tilapia
Yesterday, the New York Times reported on the costs and benefits of factory farmed tilapia and they zoomed in on Nicaragua. Dr. McCrary has spent the past decade studying how a small, short-lived tilapia farm degraded Lake Apoyo in Nicaragua. “One small cage screwed up the entire lake — the entire lake!” he said of the farm, which existed from 1995 to 2000. Waste from the cages polluted the pristine...
ELLAS Progress Report: Measurable Achievements
This month we're reflecting on our ELLAS program, and the commitment we made to the community at the Clinton Global Initiative Five women launched one sea turtle nursery which protected over 6500 sea turtle hatchlings and transformed the way their community interacts with turtles. 2010 was the first time in 25 years turtles hatched on the community beach, after a quarter century of all nests routinely being poached. Native tree nurseries employ...
ELLAS Progress Report: Challenges & Achievements
This month we're reflecting on our ELLAS program, and the commitment we made to the community at the Clinton Global Initiative. Empowering Women Economically Throughout our existence, but this past year especially, we at Paso Pacifico have watched rural women in Central America's poorest country empower themselves economically through ecosystem services. We have watched women learn to lead tours and teach others about their region's biodiversity. We have watched them manage...
Sea Turtles, Sentiment and Moral Imagination
On Wednesday April 13th, the California Academy of Sciences and Sea Turtle Restoration Project will host the first (hopefully not the last) Science of Advocacy Session at the International Sea Turtle Society annual meeting. We look forward to hearing from these promising speakers: Dr. Darren Schreiber (UC San Diego) will give us a primer on the intersection of neuroscience, public policy and behavior change. Dr. Lekelia Jenkins (University of Washington)...
Bats and Shade Coffee
Kim Williams-Guillen, our director of conservation science, has been studying fragmented wildlife habitat and conservation corridors in the coffee-growing regions of Chiapas, Mexico. Like many others, she's been testing the theory that shade-grown coffee plantations help ensure greater biodiversity in neighboring forests than do traditional cultivation methods, where coffee is grown more intensively in deforested areas (they do). Unlike scientists who've measured biodiversity before her, Kim's focus has been on...
Leatherback Hatchlings
Do you remember the Leatherback who nested at Brasilon Beach? We have watched as 38 of her eggs have hatched so far! We hope to count several more over the next day.
Doing Away with Disposable Plastics
We've just received a press release from our friend Wallace J. Nichols: As ocean pollution experts meet in Hawaii, disturbing new report chronicles effects of decades of plastic pollution on sea turtles—and what we can do about it. ... Experts on plastic pollution from around the world, determined to solve this growing problem, have gathered this week for the Fifth International Marine Debris Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, a mecca for...
Vampire Bats
Kim Williams-Guillén, our director of conservation science, has shared another gigapan image, this one from a vampire bat cave. Click here to visit the Gigapan page and zoom in and out.