Billion Baby Turtles Partner Profile: Turtle Love
How one small organization is empowering coastal residents to safeguard nesting beaches and build a future rooted in conservation.
Tortuguero National Park on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast is a clear example of what long-term conservation can achieve. After decades of protection, its beaches annually host tens of thousands of nesting green turtles (Chelonia mydas)—the largest populations in the Atlantic.
But take a few steps south, beyond the park’s boundary, and the situation shifts. On Playa Tres—a 5-kilometer stretch of unprotected coastline—turtles still face serious threats. This is where Turtle Love, a small nonprofit, is working hard to close the gap. Their team monitors nests, deters illegal hunting, and builds conservation efforts rooted in the local community. Here, green, leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) turtles come ashore to nest, and they still need protection.
Turtle Love team excavating an old nest in Costa Rica. Credit Turtle Love.
Illegal harvest of nests and adult turtles for meat and shell products is the primary threat Turtle Love addresses. To combat this, the organization monitors nesting activity while actively engaging local communities through education and outreach. They also promote sustainable development by offering alternative livelihoods, such as training and hiring local field assistants and connecting volunteers with host families for homestays.
Their beach monitoring helps reduce hunting in the short term, while involving residents creates long-term change by providing jobs and income that don’t depend on harvesting turtles or their eggs. Most outreach focuses on the small town of Parismina but also reaches Tortuguero and visitors from across Costa Rica and abroad.
Green turtle hatchling. Credit Turtle Love
The science matters, too. In addition to direct protection work, Turtle Love collects and shares critical data with Costa Rica’s Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE). Renato Bruno, a Brazilian biologist and the organization’s president and scientific director who has been working to conserve sea turtles since 2009 leads their scientific team. They monitor nesting activity and poaching trends, providing data that helps inform beach management and national conservation strategies.
At SEE Turtles, we support local groups like Turtle Love because they do the real work—on the ground, in the community, with the animals. They know this stretch of coast. They know the challenges. And they’re not just passing through.
Turtle Love’s Emma Bello, recipient of our Sea Turtle Community Leaders scholarship. Credit Turtle Love
Billion Baby Turtles has provided 11 grants to Turtle Love over the past 7 years to help fund their efforts — whether that’s night patrols, school visits, beach cleanups, scholarships, or data collection. Through this partnership, they’ve helped protect more than 500,000 baby turtles since 2019, and their work continues to make a direct impact for some of the most threatened species in the region. Our Sea Turtle Community Leaders program also supports aspiring biologist Emma Bello with his college studies to become a biologist. In addition, SEE Turtles will be offering a sea turtle conservation trip in 2026 to volunteer with Turtle Love’s nesting beach program.
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