Are they death?

After 4 years, none of the tagged turtles had returned to lay eggs at
Las Baulas National Park. About 30% of the leatherbacks free from the
5 kg satellite transmitters had come to nest. Some studies had shown
that the apparatus affects the movility and, therefore, the chances of
survival of these reptiles. And besides, the "discovered" marine
corridor had been known for a long time.
Is it worthy?

This new science provides a solid basis for establishing protected migration corridors for the leatherback where industrial longline fishing is restricted. The tracking data pinpoints where and when these rare marine turtles are most vulnerable.
The leatherbacks that swim from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia to the California coast to forage are also facing dire threats from longline fishing for swordfish. Federal fishery managers want to allow the setting of longlines in the middle of a Leatherback Conservation Zone off the West Coast and on the High Seas -- areas where it is banned. The proposal appears to be a last gasp of the Bush Adminstration's destructive environmental policies. Today the California state legislature urged that the fishery be delayed or denied in a resolution authored by Assemlyman Mark Leno.
Teri Shore
Sea Turtle Restoration Project
www.seaturtles.org

The comments by Pedro make no sense. The average return time for leatherbacks at Playa Grande is 4 years. We expect that some of the turtles will return this next season. There is no indication that any of the turtles to which we applied satellite transmitters were harmed by this study. The turtles all acted normally, migrated in normal time and showed normal diving behavior. This study was one of more than 12 published studies that used this technique. All of them have had similar results and none have reported harm to the turtles.
This study provided invaluable data on the areas used by the turtles during the time that they were in Costa Rican waters and where they go to feed. Now governmental and UN authorities can establish rules to protect the turtles when they are near the beach, migrating and on their feeding grounds. So the study was critical to developing further protection for the turtles.
I wonder who this Pedro is. Is he a concerned citizen of Playa Grande? No one there knows him. Is he a pseudonym for one of the developers who want to make a big profit by selling land in the national park there? Is he the one calling in death threats against the conservationists and scientists in Costa Rica? He seems to be in the developers’ camp maybe he can talk to them about saving the park and the turtles. Will developers cooperate with the government to sell their land at a fair price as determined by official appraisal in order to protect the turtles? Or will they continue to libel those who protect the turtles, those who support the park, those who protect the turtles and those who carry out legitimate scientific studies to learn more about the biology and conservation of these magnificent animals?