SRI LANKA TURTLE CONSERVATION PROJECT
Five of the world's seven marine turtle species come ashore to breed each year on the beaches of Sri Lanka. All five of these species are listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and threats to their future are building despite protective legislation introduced more than 30 years ago. The myriad threats to sea turtle welfare include an ever-expanding tourism industry, pollution, destruction of feeding grounds through unsustainable fishing, and turtle exploitation to meet the public demand for tortoiseshell items. The most widespread form of sea turtle exploitation in Sri Lanka is the illegal poaching of sea turtle eggs for human consumption.
To respond to this crisis, the Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) was launched in 1996 as a community-based organization. The TCP operates on the premise that Sri Lanka's turtle populations can recover from recent setbacks, but only if efficacious conservation measures are implemented immediately and carried out for at least two decades. These measures, in turn, will only be effective if local Sri Lankan communities are educated about the plight of sea turtles and given some incentive to participate in programs that preserve turtle habitat and populations.
The TCP's approach to sea turtle conservation is a comprehensive one, including many different programs. To offer local people an alternative to poaching sea turtle eggs for income, they are educated as Tourist Guides and can earn money giving guided tours of sea turtle nesting beaches. The TCP also offers a Night Watch program in which foreign tourists can, for a fee, be turtle observers and protect hatcheries from poachers. The Night Watch program has been very successful in two sites and was awarded the prestigious British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow award in 1998.
The TCP is also working to reduce the number of turtles that are caught as by-catch in commerical fishing operations. The Project launched a extensive survey of this phenomenon in 1999 and shared its conclusions with the Sri Lankan government. The TCP also submitted a comprehensive report on the extensive tortoiseshell trade in Sri Lanka. Hundreds of Sri Lankan school children have also been educated about the importance of sea turtle conservation in the TCP's extensive outreach education program, which has included a school lecture series and a student art contest. The TCP also strives to increase the local knowledge of environmental issues and the importance of a healthy local ecosystem.
The Oakland Zoo's support of the Turtle Conservation Project helps to fund critical education programs, community programs, and sea turtle research.
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