Support for our international team

Whether in Indonesia, Cape Verde or Germany – we work worldwide to protect endangered sea turtles. We rely heavily on the support of committed people who not only help us during the actual nesting seasons on the beaches. Coordination tasks and fundraising are also essential so that we can continue to do our best to save our favourite reptiles from extinction. In recent months, a few new faces have joined the Turtle Foundation’s international teams, which we would like to introduce to you today.

Age: 33

What are you responsible for in our team?

In the fundraising team – together with Janin – I will mainly be responsible for acquiring fundings from foundations and public donors in order to provide financial support for our projects. This includes the application and reporting process, donor communication and the planning of new project ideas.

What fascinates you most about sea turtles?

I am particularly fascinated by the fact that most of them have the ability to find the place where they hatched over long distances in order to reproduce themselves.

Age: 36

What are you responsible for in our team?

My responsibilities in the team include ensuring that the program in Simeulue, Province Aceh, runs smoothly. I manage ranger shifts on the island, collect scientific data of turtles, and prepare monthly reports. I provide both technical and field support, coordinate with the local government, police, and other stakeholders. Besides, within the team of Yayasan Penyu Indonesia I support several community groups that are part of local volunteer programs with leatherback turtles. We conduct programmes with the community, and educational outreach to schools, especially highlighting the important role of turtles in the ecosystem and human life.

What fascinates you most about sea turtles?

I am particularly fascinated by their migratory behaviour and their reproduction, especially the period of the so-called ‘lost years’ has aroused my personal interest.

Age: 44

What are you responsible for in our team?

My responsibility in this team is to coordinate turtle protection program activities and their habitat on Moale Beach in the working area of ​​South Nias Regency, North Sumatra Province. This includes establishing good relationships with local institutions, organisations, and communities in order to maintain the population of turtles on Moale Beach.

What fascinates you most about sea turtles?

What fascinates me about turtles is that they are a species that has lived on earth for millions of years and has been able to survive until now. These turtles play a very important role in maintaining healthy (marine) ecosystems. However, currently the existence of these turtles is threatened with near extinction due to human activity of those poaching turtles and their eggs for consumption and sale. Thanks to our efforts on the island of Nias, we do our bit to ensure that the animals can survive and be preserved.

Age: 38

What are you responsible for in our team?

I will be working remotely from India and overseeing and assisting with the monitoring projects at all the sites that Yayasan Penyu Indonesia/Turtle Foundation is currently implementing in Indonesia. I will also be checking and managing our data sets, providing technical advice, and conducting routine analyses of our data at the end of each nesting season. My work will also involve several annual field visits and support in presenting our work at conferences such as the International Sea Turtle Symposium.

My immediate tasks are to provide my expertise in developing a Ranger Handbook and conduct Training of Trainers (ToT) programs for our rangers and field team to strengthen capabilities and capacities for sea turtle conservation in Indonesia.

What fascinates you most about sea turtles?

My fascination started at the age of 10 when I was introduced to the world of sea turtles through a presentation by the Students’ Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN) in Chennai, India. As students, we were invited to participate in “turtle walks” during the weekend and I joined the group on the night patrols every Friday and Saturday looking for nests, nesting turtles or any hatchling that has lost its way. I became a regular turtle walker and while I saw many nests and hatchlings, it took me for 4 years before I came across my first nesting olive ridley turtle. Since then, I have been fascinated to observe the nesting process of different species, especially the mass nesting or the “arribada”, where hundreds or thousands of ridleys nest in synchrony.

Are you also passionate about protecting endangered sea turtles? You can also help us prevent the extinction of these reptiles from outside of our team. As it is so often the case, we are dependent on financial help to carry out our conservation activities. Every donation – whether large or small – enables our teams on Boa Vista and in Indonesia to put another stretch of beach under protection.