Displaying items by tag: Cousin Island
Turtle trance
This is my first time to Cousin Island as a helper during the hectic turtle season. Although I had no idea what I was walking into, the hawksbill turtles have most definitely exceeded my expectations. During my first month here I had two turtles come on to the beach at the same time time to lay their eggs. They both made their way up the beach into the vegetation near the path. The bigger of the two started digging immediately and without hesitation started laying quite quickly.
Dabbing colour back into our oceans, one coral at a time
INSIDE SEYCHELLES, Issue 7, October 2017: When visiting the Seychelles you may want to spend your holiday lounging or sunbathing on the stunning white sandy beaches; or perhaps you are the more aquatic type into diving or snorkelling and want to enjoy the underwater beauty; maybe you are into fishing for pleasure or sport. Whichever of these brings you to this 115-island-strong archipelago, they are all dependent on coral reefs, healthy coral reefs.
Getting rid of the Sharp and Slimey
Doing population controls of coral predators to assist recovery on reefs impacted by the 2016 mass coral bleaching event. A total of 790 corallivore snails (Drupella spp.) were removed from the Reef Rescuers transplanted site in Cousin Island Special reserve.
Another 28 corallivore starfishes (Crown-of-Thorns) were injected with lethal doses of vinegar on the resilient reef of Trompeuse.
by Louise Malaisé, Technical & Scientific Officer, Reef Rescuers
Bad for your health but great for conservation
In a recently published study by researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and McGill University, eating sea turtle eggs could be greatly detrimental to human health owing to the high presence of heavy metals in the eggs. Great news for sea turtles and conservationists protecting these species, but not so for the people of Panama.
Like Cousin Island Special Reserve which is managed by Nature Seychelles, many nature reserves protected under law provide a safe haven for many marine and terrestrial wildlife from human activities such as fishing, poaching, development, pollution and so forth.
Some pretty tough corals!
After the devastating effects of the recent bleaching event on our coral reefs, the time has come to look for survivors and get on the road of recovery.
The status of coral reefs after the recent bleaching event
After two underwater heat waves in 1998 and 2010, El Niño has once again struck coral reefs worldwide, triggering the third global coral bleaching event in recorded history.
Cousin Island - a place like no other
Packing my bags and saying goodbye to Mahe, I did not know what was ahead for me. The first time I laid my eyes on Cousin Island, I knew at that moment that a new adventure awaited me. With its golden sand, silver clouds and its crystal clear water. Cousin Island is its own little paradise. I would say its heaven on earth.
What a great start to the week
This morning at 830 am our International Volunteers working on Cousin Island Special Reserve performed the excavation of the nest 519 which was laid just one day before the new year. On Saturday night we encountered adorable baby turtles just close to the volunteers' house, which were a bit confused by the house’s light. Today during the excavation all the eggs that were pre-counted have been found together with a wonderful surviving hatchling.
First ever Coral Reef Restoration Training program in Seychelles launched
The Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Energy, Mr. Didier Dogley officially launched the Nature Seychelles’ Coral Reef Restoration Training Program last week by symbolically cutting a ribbon on the Amitie beach on Praslin Island. Mr. Dogley, in the presence of Dr Nirmal Shah, the CEO of Nature Seychelles, other Nature Seychelles staff and the media waved the trainees off on their boat as they went for their first dive under the training program.