RESEARCH ASSISTANTS are needed for the 2008 turtle season at Pacuare Reserve in Costa Rica and Bocas del Toro in Panama.

The Endangered Wildlife Trust is inviting applications for Research Assistants (RAs) to join the conservation projects in Costa Rica and Panama for the 2008 nesting season of the critically endangered Leatherback turtle.

-Applicants should be advanced student or recent graduate in biology or some related field.

-Speak good Spanish and English at time of application.

-Previous field experience an advantage but not essential.

We need people who are motivated and adaptable, good team members, hard working and happy to live in a small isolated community.

The work of the RAs includes leading night patrols on the beach to identify, measure and tag adult turtles, relocate nests into hatcheries or mark them in situ, daily early morning walks to count the turtle tracks and check status of in situ nests, monitor hatcheries, release hatchlings and conduct post-hatching excavations. This means long hours and hard work.

At the Panama stations, RAs should also be prepared to help in collecting food supplies, some cooking duties (at Playa Larga only) and camp upkeep and construction which can be physically demanding.

Volunteers come to all three beaches to participate in the beach programmes and at Pacuare we receive many student groups. RAs are expected to escort volunteers and students on the beach at night.

At the Pacuare Reserve only, RAs are required to do a personal research project of their choice. There are 6 kms of beach and 2000 acres of forest from which to choose a subject.

Accommodation for RAs is basic but adequate. They have a bed or bunk (with sheets and pillow) in a room which they will share with one or two other RAs.

There are showers and flushing toilets (except for Playa Larga, Panama, which offers a Robinson Crusoe lifestyle).

RAs have four free days a month. They are not paid but receive free food and lodging throughout their stay at the project sites.

The periods for which RAs are needed are as follows:

For Costa Rica:
March 1st to September 30th
or
March 1st to June 30th

For Panama:
March 1st to July 15th

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to work in a team with people from different parts of the world, to live by a remote turtle nesting beach surrounded by divers flora and fauna, to participate in the conservation of a critically endangered species, to gain academic and leadership experience and to test yourself physically and mentally as never before!

To apply, please download the application form, complete, and email it along with your cv and a covering letter to Carlos Fernandez at c.fernandez@turtleprotection.org.

Or, for more information contact Carlos Fernandez at c.fernandez@turtleprotection.org or phone 020 72292093 (in the UK)