At some time in the region's history, sea turtles discovered that the beach in Tortuguero made a suitable nesting site and have continued returning faithfully ever since.

Tortuguero is the most important nesting area for the green turtle in the Caribbean. Dr. Archi Carr, a biologist from the University of Florida, in Gainesville, studied the fascinating animals and was the leading man to establish Tortuguero National Park in 1979 and in order to save the green turtle from extinction. 1959 he founded the Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC), an organization that helps to protect the turtles and conserve the nesting area. Furthermore they documented the number of turtles nesting in the area for a period of 40 years.

The greatest dangers for the turtles are humans. Local history says that when Christopher Columbus arrived in Costa Rica in 1502 and anchored near Tortuguero, he recorded that there were so many turtles that you could " walk to shore on their backs."

But it did not last like that. The first colonists of this area were turtle hunters who followed the turtles up from Panama. In the early 20th century, the demand for turtle products increased worldwide. Turtle processing ships began to appear along the shoreline. The hunters turned hundreds of turtles on their backs and gathered them later.

The ships were filled with live turtles, which could survive on board for weeks. The turtles were then processed during route to Europe or the United States.

By the 1950s, the green turtle faced extinction. Since it takes green turtles many years to mature to reproductive age, the results of massive harvesting are clearly evident to this day.

Due to logging interests in the 40s and 50s, many small canals were dug to connect the area with inland lagoons and rivers. Today the canal's main use is the transportation of tourists to and from the port of Moin to Tortuguero