Marine and Coastal Conservation in Thailand

Introduction

We have reflected on our huge  impact over the last 12 months, all of which has been made possible thanks to the ongoing support of our donors. Now we begin to  look forward by continuing and expanding our programmes in the year to come, with lots of project development  in the pipeline.  We are keen to see our impact soar as we ensure Thailand’s local wildlife is not exploited as borders reopen and tourism begins to take off once again.

Project Outcomes 

Our work at the Sea Turtle Conservation Centre has continued as the number of tourists in Thailand has dramatically increased coming into ‘high’ season. This has meant that our educational output from the centre has tripled in the last quarter. Over 600 tourists have been educated, encouraging them to help protect endangered sea turtles and become advocates for a planet where sea turtles and humans can all live together.

Our Environmental Enrichment Programme at the Sea Turtle Conservation Centre has also resulted in an inspirational success story. An adult turtle, fondly known as ‘Bumpy,’ has finally been trained to dive by our team. Biweekly additions of bottom feeding enrichment devices has seen the adult turtle's muscles strengthen and she has consequently regained her ability to dive and rest on the bottom of the tank. This means that this turtle is now on the right path to be released back to the wild; a huge achievement from the team. This turtle will hopefully soon join the other 15 adult turtles and over 2000 hatchlings released in 2022.

This year has seen over 60 hours of environmental education delivered through our Conservation Club programme at a partner school. Interactive classes have encouraged the local students to respect nature and care for their local environment. Classes have included planting organic chilli plants, bird surveys, unique ways to protect our oceans, arts and crafts sessions creating water cycle models and much more.

This quarter our Coral Reef Monitoring and Biodiversity surveys have restarted with the onset of the dry season. Our initial findings show that there is a perceived increase in biodiversity and improvement in coral health on our local reefs. The team looks to continue data collection  on this project and compare to previous years to make some conclusive reports on the local reef ecosystem and its implications for the local community.

Our local beaches have continued to be kept trash-free during this important time of the year through regular beach cleans. Not only are the beaches clear for tourists but also to support the sea turtle nesting season in the region. We have developed our partnership with a local organisation, aiming to further develop the impact we can have through repurposing our beach clean trash on a local scale rather than transporting many miles to Bangkok; with significant benefits to the local community, economy and environment.

Challenges and Solutions for 2023

With the continued support of our partners and donors there are several challenges we would like to address as we move into the start of 2023.

The mystery of where juvenile Sea Turtles migrate to after hatching/release and the ability to accurately quantify the impact of our sea turtle releases is yet to be resolved. These challenges could be overcome with the addition of satellite transmitters fitted to juvenile turtles using a novel technology developed in the United States in the last 6 months. This ground breaking development in technology has the potential to drastically improve conservation efforts to protect turtles not only in Thailand but around the globe. We would like to fundraise to fit satellite transmitters to turtles released from our headstart programme, furthering the conservation impact of this project. From this data we could improve our knowledge of sea turtle populations on the Andaman coast and consequently focus mitigation efforts and environmental protection to high value coastal regions.

The Sea Turtle conservation centre would also benefit greatly from the addition of increased funding for resources such as more environmental enrichment, nets to protect the adult turtle tank from pollution from nearby pine trees and also an increased variety in their diet by improving their feeding schedule. Our educational output from the centre could also be dramatically improved through the addition of educational resources and posters.

Investment into our coral reef programme would see the validity and power of our data collection improved. This could be achieved through the addition of underwater camera equipment and quadrats to heighten the quality of data collected.

Summary

Finally we would like to say a massive thank you to all the donors that have made our successes so far possible. With your ongoing support we will have the opportunity to create positive change for the future of coastal ecosystems and wildlife on the Andaman Coast. Together we can make a difference.