His Excellency the British High Commissioner, Mr Fraser Wilson, opened the workshop with a short introduction to the project and advising how both the British High Commission and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office were very supportive of the project initiative. His Excellency the Seychelles Minister for Environment, Mr Ronny Jumeau, also made a short speech stating that the Ministry of Environment fully supported the project and calling on all stakeholders to participate in this co-operative effort.

The project aims to provide strategic management information to assist turtle rookery managers to increase nesting success.  Photo Udo Engelhardt

 Participants were briefed on the different types of data collection and what benefits each dataset offered in terms of turtle population management. The workshop concluded with stakeholders approving a standard outline for the strategy and action plan and identifying and prioritising the goals and objectives of the strategy.

The project continued during November with three consecutive one-day training workshops for field technicians. The workshops were lead by turtle expert Dr Jeanne Mortimer and focused on the techniques and protocol for turtle monitoring, tagging, data recording and data entry.

  The workshops themselves were split between a morning session at the botanical gardens on principles and techniques involved and an afternoon practical session on Ste Anne Island. In total 31 people from 11 agencies were trained in the monitoring protocol.

  The next phase is the development of the database and the first outline draft of a strategy and action plan for consideration of the stakeholders involved in the project.

  MCSS would like to thank the Ministry of Environment for its assistance in the complimentary provision of a meeting room to undertake the morning sessions and the Marine Parks Authority for access to St. Anne’s island.