Sea Turtle Conservation in Pulau Banyak, Aceh, Sumatra

SITE DEVELOPED BY

YAYASAN PULAU BANYAK

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PARTNERS & SPONSORS

Without the support of our partners and sponsors, none of the work of Yayasan Pulau Banyak would be possible.

All photos on this website by courtesy of Maggie Muurmans, Mahmud Bangkaru, Mistar Kamsi, Ian Singleton, Abdul Halim and Aznar Mehta. Text by Maggie Muurmans. Maps by Mahmud Bangkaru.

	Yayasan Pulau Banyak started its activities in the region in 1994, when Mahmud Bangkaru visited the area and motivated the local community to start up conservation activities for sea turtles in Pulau Bangkaru. With the first funding we were able to protect the nesting beach from egg poaching and raise considerable awareness in the area regarding environmental issues...read more

	The activities of Yayasan Pulau Banyak concentrate, as the name would suggest, in Pulau Banyak, an archipelago off the coast of South East Aceh. Like Sumatra, Pulau Banyak also has a healthy array of habitats and wildlife consisting of mangroves, hill forests, freshwater swamp forests, lowland forests and coral reefs. Pulau Bangkaru is covered by dense, pristine forest with tree ferns, strangler fig trees and many epiphytes...read more

	Mission and Achievements - the mission is to promote local participation in enhancing conservation efforts through community capacity building and socio-economic activities in order to sustain ably manage and monitor the natural resources of Pulau Banyak in the Aceh Singkil region, Northern Sumatra, Indonesia...read more

	In the islands of Pulau Banyak, South Aceh, a sea turtle monitoring programme has been set up by Yayasan Pulau Banyak, a local NGO, supported by Swiss based Paneco and partnering with Yayasan Ecosystem Leuser and Casa Tortuga. A beach patrol team of locals, students and national volunteers have been trained to collect the data and use standardized methodology in their recording and conservation efforts...read more

	Throughout Indonesia there are four different sea turtle species that lay their eggs on the beaches of the many different islands. Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) and Hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) are critically endangered with extinction on a global scale, whereas the status of Green (Chelonia m. mydas) and Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) turtles are less of a critical state, but still alarming...read more

	You can help Yayasan Pulau Banyak in its effort to protect the fragile marine ecosystem of Pulau Banyak by donating towards our sea turtle conservation programme. Gifts will fund beach patrol and science equipment, environmental education teachers, a sea patrol system and our research post. Volunteers are welcome to join our beach monitoring programme starting from November 2008...read more