The southern and western coasts of Sri Lanka was once the home of a large number of sea-turtle hatcheries, which did no end of good for the endangered species in its seas. Sadly the tsunami wiped them all out.
When it struck, conservationists were terrified that it would mean the eggs would all be wiped out as the area is a well-known nesting ground for some of the most beautiful sea-turtles in the world. Sri Lanka is home to 5 (of 7 I think) marine turtles , all of whom are endangered: the Loggerhead, Green, Oliver, Hawksbill and Leatherback.
But as luck would have it the nesting time was not in December, and so the turtles we all saved although the facilities were not. When we visited a hatchery a couple of weeks ago, the rebuilding was in progress. In addition, officials are once again engaging local communities in conservation efforts.
As many local fishermen earned their livelihood by illegally poaching turtle eggs, programmes were initiated to turn the “egg poachers” into “egg protectors”. The scheme employs local fishermen to protect natural turtle nesting sites. The project, known as in-situ conservation, gave an alternative means of livelihood to fishing folk, who made a living from tourists’ interest in turtle-watching.
Whats good is that help is greatly appreciated. Here are the details below:
Sea Turtle Conservation in Sri Lanka
Cost in US$: $2895
Cost Includes: The price you pay covers you for the duration of your stay and includes all you food, accommodation, insurance and all of your overseas support whilst you are there. Really the only major cost which is not included is your flight. It is actually quite a cheap way to see a country and to become fully immersed in the culture in a manner which even the most hardened of backpackers could never hope to do. As you have all of your bed and board taken care of you really could get by on next to nothing if you wanted to once you have arrived in your destination country.Experience Required: no
Term: Throughout the year
Length of Position: 4 weeks to 12 months
Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks, 3-6 months and 7-12 months
Typical Duration of Program: 9-12 weeks
Originally posted on August 24, 2006 @ 9:32 am