Leatherbacks are the largest marine turtle in the world. These huge reptiles can weight between 350 to 500 kilo an can measure up to 1.80 meter long. They are in ciritical danger of extinction from the planet. In Playa Grande, 1367 nested in the season 1988/1989. In the year 2005 only 48 returned. The Leatherback turtle nests between, October and March.
Leatherbacks are only able to nest every 4 years, in Central America, because their principal food source, the jellyfish is scarce.
Some of their important nesting sites in Costa Rica include Playas Junquillal, Avellanas, Marbella and Playa Azul. They nest 9 times in one season, laying up to 65 fertile eggs. After their, reproduction season, Leatherbacks migrate thousands of kilometres to the cold waters of the Pacific, especially near Chile, where jellyfish are abundant. 
The beginning
On the beaches of Junquillal, between 2001 and 2004, the nesting habits of marine turtles and their principal threats, were studied extensively. The investigation was led by marine biologist Gabriel Francia, in a program from the Costa Rica national university. The study revealed that after Playa Grande and Langosta, Junquillal is the most important nesting site for Leatherbacks not only in Costa Rica, but also in Central America. It also demonstrated that poaching destroys almost all of the nests of the endangered Leatherbacks, Olive Ridley and Black Turtle. Moreover its showed that artificial illumination on the beach is responsible for the low numbers of female turtles nesting. In response to this research, in January of 2005, with the support of the World Wildlife Fund Central America (WWF) and Sustainable Forestry Management the Pacific Leatherback Conservation Project in Junquillal was formed. While the Project protects all marine turtles immediate goal is to contribute to the recuperation of the Leatherback population in the Oriental Pacific in order to save the species from its imminent extinction.
Links to WWF: http://www.panda.org/index.cfm
Gabriel Francia :
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or
Sandra Andraka from WWF:
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Community in action
It is important that the community gets directly involved in taking action to conserve the turtles. WWF and the project also promote the participation of the community facilitating economic alternatives to poaching. They like to enable locals to find paying jobs monitoring the beach, transplanting eggs, and maintaining and guarding enclosures that protect the nests. They will train members of the community as Eco-tourist guides, and helping others who would like to provide food and lodging to students and volunteers. There is also the possibility that local earn an income with various related arts and crafts from Eco tourism.
Turtles