Eggs explained

From the Voice of Guanacaste, this is the best thing I’ve read about what all those people are doing on the beach at Ostional during a turtle Arrival (Arribada).  It says that, in a big Arribada, many of the eggs are destroyed by other turtles “over-digging”.  When 251,000 turtles try to lay their eggs on the same stretch of beach within a few days, it’s bound to happen.  So harvesting during the first 3 days doesn’t have a big impact on overall survival.  Caring for the nests and cleaning the beach, however, does have an impact, a positive one.

http://www.vozdeguanacaste.com/en/gallery/turtle-eggs-ostionals-subsidy

What the article doesn’t explain is how SINAC assesses the market and who the buyers are.  Even so, if you run the numbers, you can quickly see that a large Arribada like we saw in September produces a $40 share for each of the 230 members.  Seems like a labor of love to me.  More important, perhaps, to turtle survival is to stop polluting the oceans.