Surf Travel Company Gives Back 1% for the Planet
Date: 11/11/2011
The next time you take a surf trip down to Costa Rica, the ocean will be a little cleaner thanks to environmental groups like PRETOMA that protect the coastal marine ecosystems. From guarding sea turtle nesting sites, stopping shark finning, and preventing experimental tuna farms from going near surf breaks, PRETOMA (Programa de Restauración de Tortugas Marinas – www.pretoma.org) has been a leader and a voice for the community. And for that reason CR Surf Travel Company has pledged their 1% for the Planet proceeds to the San Jose based non-profit.
1% for the Planet is a program created to give businesses a chance to show they care for the environment. Each business commits to donating one percent of their profits to an environmental organization of their choice. CR Surf was already a retail member of the Surfrider Foundation, a popular choice for their coastal advocacy, but the company wanted to contribute to a group based in Costa Rica . “When one sells dreams of surfing in paradise there should be a ‘paradise’ to go to,” explained Greg Gordon , the owner. “ Costa Rica has 5% of the world’s biodiversity in a country the size of West Virginia . It has tropical beaches both on the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean , and where there is one crowded wave, there are five other empty ones nearby. But threats to this surfing wonderland include erosion and runoff from over development, foreign boats overfishing local waters, and draining wetlands or razing rainforests for agriculture.”
That is where CR Surf Travel Company draws the line. On their website – www.crsurf.com – there are environmental news articles that address these issues and call for action by citizens and tourists. The company was active against oil drilling off the Caribbean Coast and a proposed marina near Salsa Brava in Puerto Viejo. And during the 2009 World Surfing Games in Playa Hermosa the surfing travel site collected hundreds of petitions to stop a tuna farm from going in near Pavones, one of the longest left breaking waves in the world and a sanctuary for nesting sea turtles. “CR Surf Travel Company through its weight behind the successful grass roots campaign to revoke approval of a tuna aquaculture project that would have polluted the beach at Pavones,” said Andy Bystrom, an environmental consultant for Pretoma. “The campaign would not have stopped this project without the international surf community’s involvement and the commitment of socially responsible companies like this one.”
CRsurf.com believes that by presenting locally owned, eco-friendly accommodations and certified surf camps on their website, they can give their clients better service and support sustainable surf tourism. If you want to help support a surf travel company that cares about the beach and the surfing community, then book your trip with CR Surf Travel Company. They have helped surfers plan trips since 1998 and are recommended in the Lonely Planet Costa Rica and both Fodor’s and Frommer’s travel sites. You can also find them on Facebook (www.facebook.com/CRsurf) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/CRsurf) Se habla español.
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11/14/11 - UPDATE - Tuna Farm Aquaculture Project Stopped! SETENA states it will not consider the Granjas Atuneras project near Pavones. Read more.
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About PRETOMA
PRETOMA is a Costa Rican grass roots Non Governmental Organization (#3-002-212657), founded in 1997. Their mission is to protect and restore populations of sea turtles, sharks, and other endangered marine species, with a vision of sustainable fishing practices and community base conservation. We work along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and the Eastern Tropical Pacific, in partnerships with local and international organizations.
Costa Rica has an image as a conservationist country. Indeed there are many positive laws and regulations on paper in Costa Rica. However, marine conservation is very far behind land conservation, and furthermore, many of the positive laws and regulations that do exist go unenforced.
As a result, they direct their efforts in the following categories:
- Direct in-the-field conservation projects
- Research and outreach onboard commercial fishing vessels
- Public awareness and education
- Litigation and policy advocacy
Specific activities:
- they have conducted a public campaign against shark finning in Costa Rica including gathering 80,000 petitions urging the government to ban this practice.
- they constantly gather and publish papers in peer reviewed magazines on sharks and sea turtles including in satellite tagging studies as well as studies on capture of these species in the national longline and shrimp fishing fleets.
- they have ongoing outreach programs with the commercial fishery sector to introduce practices and devices (e.g., TEDs and “de-hookers”) which mitigate impacts on non-target species.
- they maintain direct conservation projects to protect sea turtles and their nests on beaches on the Pacific coast (over 500,000 sea turtle hatchlings protected).
- they conduct year round public awareness marine conservation campaigns as well as education programs in schools, high schools and universities.
- they work directly with the Ministry of Environment and the Costa Rican Congress and regularly file lawsuits against government agencies such as the Fisheries Institute and Customs Department when policies promote unsustainable exploitation of marine resources.
- they have served as technical consultants to the Ministry of Environment at important forums, such as the UN Law of the Sea and the Convention of Migratory Species.
- they have participated in the creation of two marine protected areas, including more than 40,000 hectares.
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