Thanks to the Body Shop Foundation we are excited to welcome Ibrahim Shameel to the Olive Ridley Project team. Shameel is from the Maldivian capital, Male. Despite the city-boy tag this automatically gives him, he is happiest in the water. After deciding on a change of course from an office job in human resources to marine research and conservation … Read More
As part of his PhD at the University of Derby, our founder and CEO, Martin Stelfox, has been exploring different techniques to age drifting ghost nets found in the Maldives. It is not currently known how long nets drift before being stranded or found. If an answer to this question can finally be found, we may be just one … Read More
ORP’s Pakistan project has taken positive strides thanks to the local fishing community at Rehmangoth in the Province of Sindh, Pakistan. With a population of around 2000 people and 300 fishing boats, the community of Rehmangoth is our pilot-project site, as we develop ways to minimise fishing gear and reuse the gear already there. Our field supervisor, Asif Baloch, … Read More
One of the greatest obstacles the Olive Ridley Project faces is knowing just what to do with the vast quantity of ghost gear collected. We have recently embarked on an exciting partnership with Seher Mirza, a textile researcher at the Royal College of Arts. Our partnership with her will enable us to reuse ghost gear in creative community projects in … Read More
Last year’s ISTS meeting marked the first time that a sea turtle Photo-ID workshop associated with ISTS was held. ORP’s project scientist, Dr Jillian Hudgins, was excited to be involved as one of the organisers of the meeting along with Stephen Dunbar (ProTECTOR Inc.) and Claire Jean (Kelonia). There were 41 participants and 8 presenters who shared aspects of … Read More
Our veterinarian, Dr Claire Petros, arrived in the Maldives in November, becoming the first and only sea turtle veterinarian in the country! Greetings from the Marine Turtle Rescue Centre in Dhuni Kolhu. We have had an extremely eventful three months, from arrival in mid-November to the opening ceremony at the beginning of February! As part of Claire’s training, she … Read More
An important aspect of our research is Photographic Identification, or photo-ID. This is the process of recognizing individual animals of a species from unique markings on their body. Photo-ID is a scientifically proven method of “tagging” animals . Individual turtles can be ID’d by comparing their facial scales, which are unique. This method was developed by Jean et al. … Read More
ORP welcomes Community Outreach Coordinator Imaha (Kaia) Mohamed Kaia joined the ORP team in August as our first Maldivian Community Outreach Coordinator. This one-year full-time position was made possible by a grant from the Body Shop Foundation. Kaia hit the ground running with workshops, clean-ups, and training seminars for her fellow Maldivians. Check out some of Kaia’s community outreach activities … Read More
Zain Warsi’s incredible rescue: Being an adventure enthusiast, I’m always looking for new places to explore, especially those that have not been commercialised yet. Astola Island has been on my list for a very long time now and I finally got an opportunity to visit the Island and spend the night there. Astola Island, also known as Jezira Haft … Read More
The Maldives Whale Shark Festival held by the Maldives Whale Shark Research Program is an annual celebration of marine life and is ecologically, culturally, and economically important to the island communities of the Maldives. On the 28th of August on the island of Dhigurah the Science Fest kicked off too a colourful start. The event had many students from local school, joined by … Read More
