Sea Turtles & Plastic Update
Our Sea Turtles & Plastic program helps coastal communities collect and recycle plastic waste from sea turtle habitats. To date, we have supported more than 30 communities who have collected more than 250,000 lbs of plastic.
Mariners for Action (Kenya)
Photo: Mariners For Action
Mariners for Action and their partner Marereni Biodiversity Conservancy through their beach monitoring program have been able to protect nesting beaches of sea turtles and oversee the safe hatching of more than 15,000 hatchlings since its inception. They have collected more than 100 tons of plastic waste from Marereni beach since they started working. The plastic waste management program has sold 200 kilograms (440 lbs) of plastic waste. Since November 2022, they have transported 70 tons of plastic waste to the Ecoworld recycling plant in Watamu Town. The money generated from the plastic project has been used to increase the frequency of beach monitoring patrols and organizing frequent beach cleanups. One of their major accomplishments is the creation of an environmental awareness project among fisher groups and local schools where they prioritize the theme of combating plastic pollution in turtle nesting beaches. Through our Plastic Recycling program we granted them with US $5,000 to help continue their recycling work.
Our World Our Sea (Ghana)
Photo: Our World Our Sea
Beaches along the coast of Ghana are filled with plastic waste. Activities contributing to this plastic menace include; indiscriminate waste disposal by tourists who visit the beaches. Intense fishing in the area also leaves remnants of fishing equipment along the beaches. Obsolete fishing gears, polyethylene bags, plastic bottles and straws are common sightings. With funding support from SEE Turtles last year, more than 5 tons of plastic waste was collected along the critical sea turtle nesting beaches in the western region of Ghana. Our World Our Sea also leads beach clean ups with community involvement. Beach clean ups have been done along 12 communities and three fish landing sites so far. They also perform education in local communities and schools to increase awareness on the need for sea turtle conservation. They do this through school visits, musical floats with the communities, radio programs, among others. Through our Plastic Recycling program we granted them with US $5,000 to help continue their cleanups and recycling work.
Sea Turtle Week Cleanups
Photo: Fundacao Tartaruga
With the support of our partner Dots.Eco we supported beach cleanups in different countries during the upcoming Sea Turtle Week. With US $3,000 we were able to support 7 organizations in 7 different countries. An estimated 22,382 kg (49,240 lb) were collected during these events with the participation of 667 volunteers!
The projects / beaches supported were:
AGBO-ZEGUE (Togo) (15,400 lbs)
Fundação Tartaruga (Cabo Verde) (4,400 lbs)
Kiunga Turtle Conservation Group (Kenya) (8,800 lbs)
Bridges Cameroon (Cameroon) (13,200 lbs)
ECOMAR-UAGro (Mexico) (3,300 lbs)
Turtle Love (Costa Rica) (1,200 lbs)
Tortugas Marinas del Golfo de Venezuela (2,800 lbs)