Conservación Bosque del Sábalo, or Jungle Tarpon Conservation, is a Costa Rican non-profit organization whose mission is to conserve a globally unique freshwater tarpon habitat in the Caribbean watersheds of Northern Costa Rica by implementing environmental stewardship, community awareness and education, enhanced scientific understanding, and the creation of sustainable economic opportunities.
The Caribbean watersheds of Northern Costa Rica are an aquatic paradise, and not just for tarpon. An array of species depend on these biodiverse lowland rainforest and mangrove habitats, including iconic species like the jaguar, tapir, jabiru stork, freshwater bull sharks, tropical garfish, and various species of sea turtle.
Nowhere else on the planet, however, do tarpon travel so far inland. Over 200 kilometers from the ocean and up to roughly 100 meters above sea level into a fully freshwater river and lagoon system. Each year, seasonal rains flood the area’s immense lagoons to create an inland sea surrounded by volcanoes and forest. The heavy deluge also triggers massive migrations of various baitfish, and the coinciding tarpon migration is here for an annual feeding phenomenon of epic proportion.
Our core project, the Jungle Tarpon Reserve, serves as a model for how a community-based tourism initiative can work to create a sustainable fly fishing destination. To date over 25% of the local community benefits from fly fishing tourism activities related to the program, with many more indirectly seeing benefit, through lodging, guiding, transportation (on and off water), food, and artisanal crafts. Guides have been trained in catch-and-release and fly fishing techniques, and the entire community has been taught the value of an intake ecosystem now and in the future. Plastic bottles are collected while searching for feeding tarpon. Trees are planted to protect riverbank and reforest. Environmental stewards are developed and lives are being changed, both locally and amongst visiting anglers. It’s an ongoing effort, but one we will continue to fight hand-in-hand with the many passionate people involved.
But we can’t do it alone. We understand that the tarpon we aim to protect leave these waters to undertake immense migrations each year, so more complete protection means our efforts need to cross many cultural borders as well as an array of diverse tarpon habitat outside of our fishery. Working one community or fishery at a time, we hope to replicate and scale up the effort. We are confident that opportunities in conservation and tourism brought about by the right collaborations and alliances in other parts of the Central American tarpon migration route will eventually overcome the many challenges this globally unique tarpon migration faces.
Together with a network of passionate people and organizations, we will protect this amazing tarpon migration so that future generations can find the same awe we do in experiencing the tarpon’s prehistoric power and beauty.
There are many ways you can become involved in our project to help protect this incredible tarpon habitat.
Want to see this incredible fishery for yourself and be a part of a conservation initiative? Click here to learn more.
Along the way you may be part of a scientific study collecting genetic samples. Or you may catch yourself talking to local people and sharing your love and fascination with tarpon. Or you may do something as simple as scoop a plastic bottle floating in the river for recycling. Rest assured that in the end your fly fishing trip will not only be an unforgettable experience but one that will also directly help this community to protect this fishery.
