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
The Olive Ridley Project’s senior project scientist, Dr Jillian Hudgins, recently made a quick trip to the Maldives to carry out workshops and training sessions. She also found time for two local school visits to talk about threats to the marine environment, including ghost nets, and what the local islanders can do to minimize their impact on turtles and other … Read More
Once a year the good people from Save the Beach organise a two-day event on the tropical island of Villingili. The One Nation Coral Revival event is an opportunity for Maldivian artists, conservationists, marine researchers and nature lovers to get together and discuss the Maldivian environment and talk about ways to improve it. Olive Ridley Project (ORP) volunteers Jesse … Read More
The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle has a very special nesting behavior. Once a year thousands of females congregate in preparation for a mass nesting event known as an Arribada – this is derived from the spanish word meaning “arrival”. This spectacular behavior can be observed in very few places in the world, but one of those places is in an … Read More
