Turtle Watch Matapica

Donation amout: EUR 10,000 (04-04-2016)
Country: Suriname
Organisation: Stichting d’ONS

Because of the bad economy in Suriname in 2016, gamekeepers often were assigned other tasks, at the expense of their ranger work to protect the sea turtles. This was a disastrous situation! With help of volunteers the monitoring was on an acceptable level at Braamspunt beach and they kept the egg robbers away. Volunteers were enthusiastic about the "Turtle Watch" programme and have learned a lot from this project. For 2017 the majority of the volunteers wanted to participate again in the Turtle Watch program. The guidance and coaching of gamekeepers and seasonal workers in the field were good according to the volunteers. In the 2017, Turtle Watch sanitation was installed at the mobile field station. Also, electricity, heat protection and awareness of conservation of sea turtles got a greater role, through primary education, were included.