Save the Gili Turtles & Help to Build a Hatchery

With a spectacular start to the year, things are very much looking up on Gili Trawangan in terms of the country opening, tourism returning to the island after a long 2 years and many businesses renovating and becoming more present on the beaches.

Weather:

However, the rainy season was a long and heavy one. Rains usually stop mid-end of March and female Green and Hawksbill turtles start nesting soon after. This year, it rained heavily and unpredictably until the first week of May. 

This meant the nesting season started a little late, but that didn't stop some females landing eagerly looking for places to nest already. :) 

Beach Erosion:

We've also seen a dramatic loss of sand and beach areas to nest on some beaches due to developments and human-based activities.

Of the 7.3km of sandy beaches surrounding Gili Trawangan, only 3.74km remain free of walls and man-made obstacles (this doesn't include a large influx of boats dragged up the beach for maintenance which inhibits females from moving freely to select a spot to dig).

In the northwest of Gili T, there are unfinished works on a new water plant that has blocked off more than 0.75km of potential nesting beaches.
In the north, an abandoned beach resort has left ocean defences to crumble and this, in turn, has accelerated the rate of erosion on the northeast of the island, cutting the sand away and toppling beach trees whose roots were stabilising the sand and beach and offering sheltered nest locations.
This threatens turtle nests as high tides can flood a nest and cause high mortality rates. We can't wait for the hatchery to be built so that we can relocate 'at risk' nests such as these to higher grounds with constant supervision so they get the best chance whilst incubating. 

However!
With all the challenges, we have some excellent news to update too.

We've recruited 18 Turtle Tracking volunteers! This is a much better turnout than last year, with ex-pats, locals and long-term tourists offering their help to survey the island each morning at sunrise to update records of new landings and potential nest sites. 

A few unreported nests have hatched successfully with no help! The beaches in the south are well protected by trees and see less erosion than in the north. Resorts such as Pondok Santi have remained open throughout the pandemic and night security noticed many of the baby turtles confused and walking into the road and getting lost. They were all scooped into a bucket and released immediately with the help of some very lucky guests early in the morning! To solve this problem from happening again, they've been quick to build a short wall (40cm high) to prevent the hatchlings from falling off the beach into the road.

Two of our veteran Turtle Trackers are creating an educational workshop for beach bars and resorts to learn simple, standardised protocols for when a turtle lands, or when hatchlings emerge. These two girls, Matla'ah and Susi from Gili Trawangan will start to create positive relationships with the local businesses to increase awareness and education about the importance and threats of our Gili turtles. We aim to see a decrease in hatchings kept in buckets, tanks or shallow pools and encourage immediate release to the ocean. More on this in our next update.

We've partnered with an established organization called The Turtle Foundation. Working with decades of experience with Indonesian turtle nesting sites, local communities and authorities we are excited to be joining them in August-September this year to learn proven techniques to properly translocate clutches of turtle eggs safely to the hatchery. With this knowledge, we'll be creating manuals and training rangers on the ground to complete this work each season.

None of this would have been possible without the support and donations from YOU! Whilst we are only at the start of this nesting season, we hope it will continue to be busy and successful! 
A huge thank you for your support and donation towards Gili Trawangan's first ethical turtle hatchery, we are so grateful to be in this position and we are planning another exciting update very soon!

Best fishes,

Sian and the Gili Eco Trust Turtle Tracking Team