Our second group of volunteers arrived in Papua New Guinea on the 17th November. This was a much bigger group than the first trip, with 10 volunteers coming out to the Conflict Islands.
The first night of patrols started well with one green turtle already on the island when we arrived! Across the trip we had an average of 5 turtles per night! A total of 61 turtles were processed over the 2 weeks 42 of these were new tags!
Throughout the trip we had engagement with fishermen who were out at the Conflict Islands to hunt turtles. In one case our turtle staff managed to convince the young fishermen where their turtles were. We all went together to a different island and worked together to tag and release the two female hawksbill turtles that had been flipped on their back, ready to be brought back to Panaeati Island.
At the end of the trip we conducted community awareness at Kwaraiwa Island, Engineer Group. This went very well, with the councillor and many community members voicing their strong support for our conservation program. The volunteers then put on a skit about the impacts of plastic in the ocean for the young kids (and many adults who stayed around to watch/laugh).
A very successful trip! A big thank you to our volunteers Laura, Courtney, Emily, Jaimee, Louise, Gemma, Selma, Azalea, Wilma and Ludo! Your involvement in our project will help to make a real difference in the conservation of turtles at the Conflict Islands!
