Tortuguero — Caribbean Marine Protected Areas Management

Document Actions

Identification

Name	Parque Nacional Tortuguero
Short Name	Tortuguero
General Description	Tortugero National Park is located at on the northern part of the Caribbean coast of costa Rica. It is name after its most important feature, green turtle (Chelonia mydas) largest nesting sites in western Caribbean. Other species such as leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea) and hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbrincata) nest in its beach. The Park have important populations of mackerel (Scromberomorus maculatus) and shirmp (Peneaus brasiliensis) along with the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) .
Country or territory	Costa Rica
Geographic location	80km N of Limon city, NE Costa Rica
Ecoregion location	South Western Caribbean
Boundaries	50km NW of Puerto Limon, 30 Km NE pf Guapiles Town. 10°32′28″N, 83°30′08″W
Map
Map URL	http://www.acto.go.cr/Mapas/ubic_pnt_med.jpg
no map
Total surface area (km²)	1744.6
Land surface area (km²)	1221.94
Sea surface area (km²)	522.66
Shoreline length (km)	24.0
Site national category	National Park
Site international designation	RAMSAR
IUCN category	II: National park

Legal

Designation	Legally designated or approved
Date established	November 03, 1975
Legal citation	Act 5680 of November 3, 1975.
Citation reference URL	http://www.asamblea.go.cr/ley/leyes/6000/6794.doc
Other legal designations
Other legal designations reference URLs
Primary responsible institution	Area de Conservacion Tortuguero
Primary contact	Eduardo Chamorro Chamorro
Address Address of primary contact or management office	338 Guapiles, Limon, Costa Rica
Phone number(s)	(506) 710-2929, (506) 710-2939, (506)709-8086
Fax number(s)	(506) 710-7673
Email	acto@ns.minae.go.cr
Web site(s)	http://www.acto.go.cr/pnt.html

Physical description

Climate	Rainfall: 5000-6000mm/year; the three wetest months are December, June, and July, and the three driest are February, March and September. Yearly average temperature is of 26 °C.
Geological features selected from: cliffs, terraces, beaches, rocky shores, volcanic formations, islands, keys, atolls, blue holes, sink holes, caves, swamp, marsh, active volcano, dormant volcano, caldera, submarine canyon, mogotes or cockpit, lava field, outstanding speleothems, karstic	beaches, swamp, active volcano, dormant volcano
Hydrological features selected from: sheet flow, river(s) drainage, stream(s) drainage, springs(s), underground water drainage, ocean gyre, ocean loop/meandering current, upwelling	river(s) drainage, stream(s) drainage
Other hydrological features	Brackish water canals and lagoons
Terrestrial habitats	Tropical lowland wet forest (rainforest), herbaceous marsh communities, river, swamp, lagoon
Terrestrial flora and fauna species	Fauna: Spectacled cayman, fishing bulldog bat (Noctilio leporinus) jaguars, tapirs, ocelots, cougars. Keel-billed toucan(Ramphastos sulfuratus), aricaris, oropendolas, swallow-tailed hawks, several species of herons, kingfishers, anhingas, parrots, and jacanas, green macaw (Ara ambigua), glass frog (Centrolenella valerioi), poison dark frog (Dendrobates pumilio), and spider, howler and capuchin Monkeys. Flora: coconut palmtrees (Cocos nucifera), holillo palm trees (Raphia taedigera), wild tamarind (Pentaclethra macroloba), the crabwood (Carapa guianensis), cativo (Prioria copaifera), crabwood, banak, Santa Baria, bully tree, mangroves, ceiba, and passion fruit trees
Marine habitats	beach, mangroves
Marine flora	Most common algae: Sargassum sp., Turbinaria turbinata, Dictyota sp., Galaxaura sp., Chaetomorpha sp., Enteromorpha sp., Rhizoclonium sp., Cladophora sp., Ectocarpus sp., Ceramium sp. Centroceras sp.
Marine invertebrates and fishes	mackerel (Scomberomorus maculatus), shrimps (Penaeus brasiliensis), whale shark (Rhincodon typus), caribbean snook (Centropomus undecimalis), gar (Atractosteus tropicus),
Marine mammals, birds and sea turtles	Turtles: Green turtle (Chelonia mydas), leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) and Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata). Mammals: manatee (Trichechus manatus).
Endangered species	Ara ambigua, manatee (Trichechus manatus), jaguars, tapirs, ocelots, cougars, river otters, leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
Special aggregation sites	Green turtle nesting sites

Management

Primary management institution Institution responsible for day to day management	Area de Conservacion Tortuguero
Other institutions that participate in management	Ministerio de Seguridad Publica, Asociacion de Guias Totuguero, Asociacion de Desarrollo de Tortuguero, Caribebean Conservation Corporation, Instituto Costarricense de Turismo, Instituo Nacional de Aprendizaje
Personnel	Rangers, manager, volunteers, touroperators, etc.
Management objectives selected from: species protection, ecosystem protection, fisheries management, user conflict resolution, recreational/tourism use, navigation restrictions	species protection, ecosystem protection, fisheries management, recreational/tourism use
Other management objectives
Management framework Management regime, framework, or plan	Yes
Date of establishment of management framework	January 01, 2003
Last update of management framework
Management programmes selected from: advisory committee, co-managment with private sector, construction regulations, education/outreach program, emergency operations program, enforcement program, financial or business plan, entrance/user fees, fisheries regulations, fishers exclusive rights, fundraising program, habitat restoration program, institutional arrangements for management, monitoring program, mooring bouys, natural resources damage assessment authority, navigational restrictions, on-site staff, permiting program, research facilities, research program, signalization, solid waste management, sustainable and environmentally sound production, tourism regulations, visitors center, volunteer program, water quality management program, zoning scheme	advisory committee, co-managment with private sector, construction regulations, education/outreach program, enforcement program, financial or business plan, entrance/user fees, fisheries regulations
Zoning selected from: anchoring, buffer zone, commercial fisheries, cultural resources, diving, no-take, no permanent constructions, public use, recreational fisheries, subsistence fisheries, other	no-take
Other zone types
Funding sources	Government
Cultural resources Submerged and land features, resources or landmarks
Fisheries resources	The entire area is no-take
Fisheries regulations Main fisheries regulations of the site	Fishing prohibited in the entire area.
Coastal development Construction regulations	Constructions prohibited
Beach management selected from: beach nourishment, vegetation restoration, beach sand cleaning regulations, groins, wave breakers, construction restrictions	beach sand cleaning regulations, construction restrictions
Monitoring programmes selected from: coral reef health, coral reef resilience, fish surveys, ReefCheck, sea turtles, SocMon, other socioeconomic monitoring program, user patterns, water quality monitoring
Other monitoring programmes	sea turtles
Issues or threats for accomplishing management objectives	Lack of personnal and equipment. fishing regulations are infringed frequently.
Role of site in network
Areas of special expertise for knowledge transfer	Research of sea turtles nesting sites

Sections

Personal tools

Document Actions