Marine Turtle Conservation Project Northern Cyprus

Along a dusty winding track in the wilds of Northern Cyprus stands a pair of green turtle gates beyond which lies an outback house called Alagadi Goat Shed. Recently I went to visit Matt & Austin on their Escape Committee adventure as they reached Cyprus. It was our discovery of the Goat Shed which led to me standing ankle deep in the Meditearean late one evening, under a full moon, releasing baby green turtles into the ocean.

The beaches of Northern Cyprus are home to two endangered species of Turtle; Loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta and Green turtle Chelonia mydas. These turtles come ashore from May through to August to lay their precious cargo of eggs on the same beaches that they themselves hatched on, some up to 30 years earlier.

However, the threats to nesting females and hatchlings are so great that in 1992 the University of Exeter founded the Marine Turtle Conservation Project to help conserve these endearing creatures in conjuction with the Society for Protection of Turtles in Northern Cyprus.

The project is run by volunteers who are mainly students from the University of Exeter lead by Kim Stokes who is currently completing her PhD on the response of marine vertebrates to climatic change.

I was lucky enough to meet the lovely Kim and accompany her team on a Green turtle nest excavation which provides important data on the success of nests and survival rates of hatchlings. The excavation the day before produced only one hatchling. On the day I joined them the nest produced eighty healthy Green turtle hatchlings which would be released later that evening. Coming face to face with a baby turtle was one of the most precious animal encounters I've ever had. They face such insurmountable obstacles on their journeys from the nest to the sea and beyond it's a wonder any of them make it at all. But their plucky little characters say it all, from the minute they surface from the nest their flippers are in full swing instinctively wanting to swim. Volunteers patrol the main nesting beaches both day and night recording important data such as carapace length and width along with the pattern and amount of scutes on the shell on both nesting females and hatchlings. Some of the nesting females are fitted with satellite tags and tracked.

Later that evening after a delightful dinner cooked by the volunteers I accompanied them back to the beach to release the hatchlings excavated at dusk. It was an unforgettable moment as a line was drawn on the sand to mark their starting point and the hatchlings were positioned for release, on the count of 3 the shoreline swarmed with baby turtle activity, their little bodies writhing on the sand desperate for their first taste of freedom, and in seconds they were gone, out into the deep blue ocean to fend for themselves. The next time they emerge will be to nest on the very same beach they were released on, provided they make it back.
x Good luck on your journeys little Green turtles x

All the best
Nicole
Nicole Fenton Zoology Blog

Cornwall College Green Team Join Tag a Turtle

The cornwall college green team have joined us to help raise funds for Tag A Turtle. This is a huge boost for the project and Nicola & I are so pleased to have them on board! The first event they organised for us was a huge success. It was an evening of entertainment and fundraising at the Mermaid in Porth with brilliant singing and entertaiment by local DJ Seth and Award winning irish singer/songwriter Brian Robb. The evening included a raffle and games with prizes being donated by local businesses. The event was a huge success raising £150 for TAG A TURTLE which was fantastic! Prior to the fundraising evening the Green team did a beach clean on Porth beach. We want to thank everyone in the green team for their hard work in organising the event and to everyone who attended, the event has marked our almost halfway milestone, our current total is now £1430.40. We'll keep everyone posted with upcoming events.

Regards
Nicole&Nicola

Great White Cage Dive South Africa

I knew the time would fly by and it certainly has! Planning my trip to South Africa and to visit the Great White Sharks of Gaansbaai in Cape Town seemed to take ages but I can’t believe it’s come and gone already! As quickly as the day went by, it is one of those moments in life I will never forget! Coming face to face with a Great White Shark, twelve of them to be exact!

The Tag a Turtle ethos is deep rooted in the conservation of all marine species and as well as the plight of turtles we are strong advocates for shark conservation. One of the main reasons I wanted to get so close to these astounding creatures is to highlight their struggle for survival amongst other marine species in the wild.
The Dyer Island Conservation Trust specialises in the protection of Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in this biodiversity hotspot which is home to one of the largest populations of Great Whites in the world as well as an important breeding area for the endangered Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) and one of the few remaining breeding colonies of the African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus).

It is also home to large resident populations of dolphins, Cape Fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) and thousands of seabirds.
Great Whites are naturally inquisitive and therefore offer fantastic up close viewing opportunities from the safety of a cage. A bit too close for comfort at some stages for me as a great big 4m female kept swimming right up to my side of the cage and peering in at me, before a flick of her tail and she would disappear into deeper water but not before having a chew on the boat’s propeller first! As large and intimidating as they may appear I have to say they are absolutely beautiful and really not the ruthless killers they are often portrayed as.


Marine Dynamics have a dedicated research team tagging and monitoring the behaviour and biology of the Great Whites in the region and offer volunteer/intern programmes for anyone interested in gaining experience working in the field. My pictures of the Great Whites are available to view in the Tag A Turtle photo gallery.

Looking forward to seeing those of you joining us at the Mermaid in Porth for the Beach Clean and evening of entertainment on Saturday night (14th May) to raise funds for Tag a Turtle and anyone else reading this is welcome too.

Regards
Nicole

A foggy start to a fantastic day!

Despite the thickest fog I think any of us have ever seen in Newquay, Our Atlantic Diver Fundraising boat trips still went ahead in trooper style today and proved to be a great success! We raised £168 towards our target which is a fantastic boost to our current total!
We saw loads of great sea birds, gannets, shearwaters, guilimots, common shags, cormorants, black backed gulls, oystercatchers and a grey seal even put in an appearance!
We really want to extend a huge THANKYOU to Chris&Annabelle Lowe for donating the trips, their support has played an integral part in this Projects success so far and we can’t thank them enough for their continued support and enthusiasm for the project.

Regards
Nicole&Nicola

Latest fundraising events: Sea Safari's & Great White Shark Dive!

Hi All,

Just a quick update from me on our latest fundraising events :)

Our Sea Safari and Fishing trips kindly Donated by Chris & Annabelle Lowe from Atlantic Divers leaving Newquay Harbour on 27th March at 9am and 11am are selling fast so anyone still wanting to join one or both of the trips please book soon as spaces are limited. This is a fantastic opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the cornish coasts beautiful marine creatures and sea birds and also help out the Tag a Turtle project, should be a brilliant day!

Also I'm off to South Africa to Dive with Great White Sharks on the 10th April 2011 with Marine Dynamics Shark Tours in aid of the Tag a Turtle project! I've already managed to raise £45 in sponsorship towards the Project which is great news but hoping to raise alot more so anyone wanting to sponsor my event please do so via the form on our get involved page.
The company I will be diving with are part of the Shark Watch South Africa Program who are actively involved with Shark research and marine eco-system conservation in South Africa. The also offer community support and job opportunities by providing local people with employment on the boat and in research internships as well as educational programs in the local towns and communities which is vital in all conservation work. So as well as supporting the Tag a Turtle project your contribution will also be helping us to raise awareness of all marine species at risk and highlighting the plight of not only turtle conservation but shark conservation too.

Once again thank you to everyone who has supported our project and continues to do so!

Kind Regards
Nicole :)

Great news!

Hi all,

Thank you to everyone who came along and supported us at Blue Reef last week. The great news is that thanks to your generosity, and that of the people who so kindly made online donations, our total raised do far is.......£1027.68! Brilliant. That means we are over 1/3rd of the way to our target of £3000.

Our thanks also go to the staff at Blue Reef for making last week possible and our amazing volunteers, Caroline, Annabelle, Tabby, Kirby & George who along with me (and my oh so patient children!) talked to our supporters and ran a competition to guess the weight of omiros the resident, blind loggerhead at the aquarium. One lucky winner has won family membership to Blue Reef, very kindly donated by Blue Reef.

Don't forget to contact us if you want to book a place on the Ocean Adventure or fishing trip on March 27th. Should be a brilliant day!

Nicola. xx

Tag a Turtle goes live!!

Dear all

Just a very quick note to say A huge huge thank you to everyone who has supported this project from the very beginning, to everyone that has donated, to Matt Slater and David Waines at Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, to It- ngam Nareekarn for donating her amazing turtle photo's and to Annabelle and Chris Lowe of Atlantic Diving in Newquay for all their support, and a very massive thanks from Nicola and I to Tom Mercer from House mouse media and Blue Reef for building our fantastic Tag a Turtle website for us!! You can now view it live at at www.tag-a-turtle.co.uk. and for more info email us at info@tag-a-turtle.co.uk

The Tag a Turtle team is growing by the day with a new team of volunteers headed up by Kirby Moore from Truro College fundraising for us all this week at Truro college and at Blue Reef Aquarium throughout half term week so do pop in and see us if you're about.

For all our latest news and fundraising events watch this space... and again a huge thanks to everyone for all your support, the project wouldn't have been possible without all the generosity and support we've received!

Regards
Nicole

Article, Conference and Donations...

Hi all,

A few updates for you all!

Firstly, we'd just like to announce that the 31st Annual Turtle Symposium will be taking place in San Diego, California between the 12th and 15th April 2011. It may be a long way to go, but if anyone is already in the USA in April, you might like to coinsider it. Students can get a discount on their registration apparently...

There is an article online from the Guardian that shows just how important this cause is (entitled 'Secret Voyages of Leatherback Turtles Revealed Using Transmitters)... it can be read here.

...and finally...

We are very pleased to announce that our efforts have not only raised money specifically for the Tag-a-Turtle Project. We were able to post a cheque today for £32.73 to the Marine Conservation Society, who do a great deal of work helping the conservation of our seas, and support the Tag-a-Turtle Project fully.

We'll be back with more news soon.

Best wishes :-)