Turtle Monitoring at NE point beach

The Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change invited ISS students to participate in a new initiative to assist the Biodiversity section in turtle monitoring. The students were involved in the hawksbill turtle laying season from October to March and were given the NE point beach to monitor. Students from Year 8 from the Secondary Science classes and members of the Primary Wildlife club took part in this exercise which meant visiting the beach once a week during these months and looking for turtle tracks or evidence of turtle activity. The students and their teachers Ms Belle and Ms Sue took their task seriously and this week have given in the data to the Biodiversity Conservation Section of the Ministry. We unfortunately saw no signs of turtle emergence or nesting during this period. Of course with climate change and global warming the tracks would of course be washed away daily on this particular beach. The last sighting of a nesting turtle here was 2 years ago. The ministry came to talk to the students about turtles in the Seychelles and the students selected enjoyed their beach studies even if they didn’t see turtles they did see many wading birds, rays and puffer fish in the shallows along the coastline. Next year we hope to patrol another beach with more turtle activity. Many thanks to the ministry for initiating this project and to the students who participated so enthusiastically.

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