Leatherback hatchlings make their way to the ocean. Photo: Bird's Head Leatherback program

Leatherback turtles are the largest of the living turtles, often reaching more than 7 feet in length and weighing 2,000 pounds. They are great distance athletes and keen navigators, traveling thousands of miles to foraging grounds and then returning to lay their eggs in the same region they were born. Sadly, fewer and fewer leatherbacks are returning to nesting beaches. Threats at sea such as bycatch in fishing gear and ingestion of plastic pollution, combined with dangers on land such as poaching and predation of eggs and coastal development, have put the turtle’s future in a tenuous position.

One of the most endangered populations is the western Pacific leatherback, which has experienced a 78 percent decline in the number of nests at two beaches in West Papua, Indonesia, that make up 75 percent of the total leatherback nesting in the western Pacific¹. Ricardo Tapilatu, PhD, a sea turtle scientist from Indonesia, is working to protect these vital nesting grounds.

Tapilatu and his team at the Bird’s Head Leatherback Program, which has been supported in part by the Aquarium’s Marine Conservation Action Fund, work throughout the year to relocate or protect turtle nests from various threats such as erosion and flooding as well poachers and predators, including dogs and feral pigs. Some of the eggs are moved to higher ground while are others are taken to hatcheries to ensure their safety. These efforts, which help protect more than 100,000 turtle eggs every year, are vital in stemming the decline of this species.

Members of the Bird’s Head Leatherback staff appear in the IMAX film Journey to the South Pacific 3D. The film, which premiered at the Aquarium in November, 2013, explores the beauty and wonder of Papua’s diverse ocean wildlife through the eyes of a young boy and includes scenes of a giant leatherback laying her eggs while Tapilatu’s Bird’s Head Leatherback team watches over her.

Ricardo Tapilatu and his family joined MCAF Manager Elizabeth Stephenson to see Journey to the South Pacific at the Aquarium’s Simons IMAX Theatre. This was their first opportunity to see the film that features staff of the Bird’s Head Leatherback program in West Papua, Indonesia.

The Aquarium had the honor of hosting Dr. Tapilatu this past spring. During his visit he met with Aquarium staff and gave a presentation about his work. In addition, he and his family saw Journey to the South Pacific for the first time. Dr. Tapilatu was delighted to see his Bird's Head team and the leatherbacks they protect highlighted in this film, along with the many other natural wonders of his homeland.

Learn more about the Bird's Head Leatherback program online.

Journey to the South Pacific 3D is now showing at the Aquarium’s Simons IMAX Theatre


¹Tapilatu, R. F., P. H. Dutton, M. Tiwari, T. Wibbels, H. V. Ferdinandus, W. G. Iwanggin, and B. H. Nugroho.2013. Long-term decline of the western Pacific leatherback, Dermochelys coriacea: a globally important sea turtlepopulation. Ecosphere 4(2):25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES12-00348.1

This post is the first in a series on projects supported by the Aquarium’s Marine Conservation Action Fund (MCAF). Through MCAF, the Aquarium supports researchers, conservationists and grassroots organizations all around the world as they work to address the most challenging problems facing the ocean.   

Nesting leatherback sea turtle

For more than 20 years, the organization WIDECAST (Wider Carribbean Sea Turtle Network) has worked tirelessly to protect sea turtles while also educating and engaging communities in their conservation efforts. Over the past few years, MCAF has supported WIDECAST with several grants for sea turtle nesting beach protection programs in Costa Rica. Most recently, MCAF helped support the continuation of WIDECAST’s vital efforts as their team worked to recover from a terrible tragedy. In May of 2013, poachers murdered one of WIDECAST’s biologists, Jairo Moira Sandoval, while he was monitoring leatherback turtle nests on Moin Beach in Costa Rica.

WIDECAST biologist Jairo Mora Sandoval was tragically killed by poachers on May 31, 2013. Photo: WIDECAST

In the aftermath of this horrible event, WIDECAST shut down operations on Moin Beach. The team was dedicated to continuing their turtle conservation work, now with police protection, on the other beaches they monitor in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, due to Jairo’s murder, more than 150 volunteers who had committed to help WIDECAST during the upcoming nesting season cancelled their plans. Volunteers play a vital role in WIDECAST’s turtle nest protection program. Without their help, many nests of highly endangered sea turtles would be vulnerable to poachers, predators and erosion. Wanting to ensure the continued protection of the turtles, WIDECAST applied to MCAF for emergency funds to hire additional staff to monitor Pacuare Beach, the most important leatherback-nesting site in Costa Rica. Recognizing WIDECAST’s urgent need, and their successful history as an MCAF grantee in 2011 and 2012, MCAF issued funding to support the continuation of their turtle conservation work.

Along with continuing to protect the turtle nests, WIDECAST has been working to effect reform in the wake of Jairo’s death. The organization wants to ensure that the Costa Rican government sustains their currently heightened focus on the security of environmental protection workers. WIDECAST and Jairo’s family are also committed to making sure that his dedication to the turtles will not be forgotten. Recently, one of Jairo’s favorite places, the Gandoca Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge, was renamed in his honor.

Learn more about the Marine Conservation Action Fund (MCAF). 

Kara Robinson, Dominica Expedition

So much has happened since my last post. I have officially seen the largest tooth whale on the planet, the sperm whale! What an amazing and strange creature, so different than the baleen whales I am used to in New England. We saw a couple of singles and a group of three that swam right under the boat, we could see the white patch around their mouth.


A juvenile sperm whale heading towards us, with its one blowhole on the left of its head open.
Photo credit: Kara Mahoney Robinson

Later, I got in the water when no whales were around; we were just 3 miles off shore and probably in close to 5,000 feet of water with nothing at all around us. The Caribbean Sea is soo blue and clear and incredible!!

Also, since last time I wrote we have really gotten into the work that we are here to do! On Monday, we trained 4 teachers from Soufriere Primary School and 5 folks that work with youth throughout Dominica. This day of intense training was followed by our big kick off day at the school in Soufriere, a fishing village 30 minutes south of here, with the teachers and the students, it was FANTASTIC! We were mostly working with the 4th and 5th grades, but when the inflatable whale went up, the whole school came out to see it. They were so excited to learn more and ask TONS of questions.


Teaching students at Soufriere Primary School
Photo credit: Jake Levenson

I have learned a lot from them as well. Most of the students had seen sea turtles nesting on the island--leatherback, green and hawksbill sea turtles nest here on the island. All the students have had "ballau", which is the local word for a type of fish called ballyhoo. Most of the students have never seen a whale, and more shockingly most of the teachers and students have never been in the ocean before, so have never seen the beautiful coral reef and fish that live just feet from the shore. I look forward to spending some more time at this school and visiting another school on the East side of the island, La Plaine, which is a community next to the largest leatherback sea turtle nesting beach on Dominica.

More to come ...

- Kara