Excited scouts scare turtles away

A scene from the presentation at  The Wharf recently

One of the major problems connected with the breeding of turtles on Mahe, Praslin and La Digue is their being scared away by excited beach scouts and bathers when the animals come to the shore to lay eggs.

The frightened turtles go back into the sea without laying eggs, according to director John Neville of the Marine Conservation Society of Seychelles (MCSS).

Mr Neville said this recently at The Wharf when his organisation launched a new project to protect turtles.

"When well-meaning interested individuals see a turtle they approach it without knowing how they should behave. It goes back into the water without the opportunity to lay," he said, adding that people generally do show interest in the animals, "but that interest has not always been guided by enough knowledge," he said.

He said educating the local communities and tourists is one of the concerns of MCSS as well as helping people to monitor the beaches to record when the animals come up and how many, while trying also to protect the turtles from illegal activity.

During the same ceremony, the Minister for Environment and Natural Resources (MENR), Mr  Ronny Jumeau, said his ministry supports the work being done by MCSS, and also greatly appreciates the efforts people make to monitor illegal activities that damage the environment in general.

"We get many telephone calls and letters from members of the public alerting us on different problems, not only on Mahe but on other islands," the minister said.

Mr Jumeau also expressed happiness that small businesses are now supporting environment conservation projects.

He was speaking after Mr Samad Suleman of Sam's Pizzeria presented a cheque for R5,000 to the society for the new turtle monitoring and protection initiative.

During a presentation he made, Mr Neville said that the project has been designed to support and complement MCCS's other endeavours, for example the "Strategic management of turtle populations in Seychelles" project funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the "Integrated Turtle and Beach Management Project" at Intendance funded by the Banyan Tree Resort.

He said the projects will, when complemented by the local community, form an integrated approach to turtle management in Seychelles which he said is aimed at addressing holistically the multi-faceted problems faced by turtles in Seychelles today.

Appealing for more funds, he said that the project needs substantive support from the general populace.

Among those who attended the launching and listened to the presentation were Minister Jumeau, British High Commissioner, H. E. Fraser Wilson and General Manager Maximilian Lennkh of Banyan Tree Resort and MENR officials.

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