Seychelles April Achievement Report

Report Title
International Sea Turtle Symposium
Objective
To present findings of the GVI Seychelles Curieuse Island Hawksbill turtle
monitoring programe to an international audience.
Summary
GVI Curieuse Science Coordinator, Cheryl Sanchez presents a poster on Curieuse
Islands Hawksbill turtles at the International Sea Turtle Society Symposium in
Turkey.

Report

In April, GVI Curieuse Science Co-ordinator Cheryl Sanchez travelled to Turkey to present a
poster at the International Sea Turtle Symposium on all the great work being done by staff
and volunteers here on Curieuse.
Promoting research and the importance of Curieuse as a sea turtle nesting area are high
priorities for GVI and its partners, and the International Sea Turtle Symposium (ISTS)
provided a perfect venue for sharing our sea turtle work. The International Sea Turtle Society
is a non-profit organisation which gathers annually for a symposium, bringing people
together from all over the world to share their research and conservation efforts. You may be
wondering, how many people can possibly be doing sea turtle work that there is a symposium
dedicated to these species? The symposium brings together people from over 80 countries
with sometimes more than 1000 people! As you can see, this was an incredible opportunity to
raise international awareness of Curieuse and its wonderful wildlife.
The Saturday and Sunday, pre-symposium, were full of workshops and meetings. Sunday was
the Africa regional meeting, where people convened to discuss the specific issues and also the
success stories of this massive region. There was a large focus on the best ways to gain the

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support of the community and the government, and Cheryl was able to speak about Curieuse
and the work that GVI and the Seychelles National Parks Authority have been doing.
The symposium officially started on 20 th
April and ended on the evening of the 23 . The keynote speaker opened the symposium
focusing solely on climate change, sea turtles and how to use sea turtles as a flagship for
drawing attention to the biological consequences of climate change. Other talks covered
topics on genetics, population biology, physiology and health, in-water biology, nesting
biology, conservation, management and policy, fisheries and threats, education, outreach, and
advocacy. There were also poster presentations Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, allowing
Cheryl and others to share their stories, and many people were amazed that Curieuses small
amount of beach held so many hawksbill nests. There were also others who have worked with
GVI programs, such as in Costa Rica and Mexico, and they all had wonderful things to say
about GVI in those areas.
rd

For Cheryl the experience of going to Turkey, meeting and networking with sea turtle
researchers and biologists from all over the world, and promoting Curieuse Island was an
unforgettable experience. Curieuse Island may be small, but its importance wont be
overlooked!
To keep up to date with all the latest news from the Island Conservation
expedition project Follow GVI Curieuse on our Facebook page GVI
SEYCHELLES MAHE & CURIEUSE and follow us on Twitter
@GVISeychelles

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