MIAMI HERALD (Florida) 02 January 08 Turtle expert saving nests - An expert on turtles and how rampant beach development has destroyed their nests has been recruited by Costa Rica's government to help prevent a similar situation there. (Gretel Sarmiento)
Boca Raton: Kirt Rusenko could very well be person of the year, to sea turtles at least.
For the longest time, the marine conservationist has been drawing attention to the lights and fishing practices affecting turtles at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and other South Florida beaches.
Most recently, he welcomed a British film crew doing a turtle documentary, and late last year he was invited to Costa Rica to discuss the country's nesting decline.
The beach is almost pristine, Rusenko says of Playa Grande (Big Beach), which lies in the North Pacific Coast in the Guanacaste province and where he spent the majority of his weeklong visit.
It's developed with a few single-family homes. Nobody is allowed to build within 50 meters of a high tide line, which really means any allowed structure must go behind the dune vegetation.
As it sits, it would be easy for government officials to implement more protection laws or some type of light replacement program.
In South Florida where the presence of development is far more obvious, a roadway project stretching along State Road A1A north and south of Spanish River Park began installing embedded pavement lights, instead of overhead lights. For a beach such as this, it's still early.
''We are already developed,'' Rusenko says. ``And those other countries aren't.''
But that might not always be the case, which is why the country needed an expert not only on turtles but someone who has known development as a threat. Playa Grande wants to remain single-family houses and low density and avoid what appears to be happening in other areas where already condominiums with front and ocean views are being advertised.
Even now, without much development, the beach is seeing fewer and fewer turtle nests. The leatherback numbers have dropped dramatically, even more than at Gumbo Limbo.
In 1989 the number of female leatherbacks nesting on Playa Grande was 13,000. In 2006 it was 56. The good news, he says, is that people are really listening -- an indication being the invitation for him to meet with Costa Rica's president Oscar Arias Sanchez and Costa Rican congressmen.
Rusenko, 56, is finalizing ideas for a new tank area at Gumbo Limbo, a project he has been working on for five years. The plan is to have four tanks in total, two of which will look like aquariums and be 20 feet in diameter and 7-feet-deep.
If all goes smoothly, construction may begin this summer, he said.
Turtle expert saving nests