News and Blogs

  1. Latest News
  2. Cousin Island News
  3. Blue Economy Seychelles
  4. Green Health Blog
  • Research: Roaming seabirds need ocean-wide protection, research shows

    Unlike other oceans, which are known to have specific “hotspots” where predators, including seabirds, gather in large numbers to feed, the Indian Ocean lacks such concentrated feeding areas, a recent paper has revealed. This lack of hotspots is particularly concerning given the various threats seabirds face due to human activities.[…]

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  • Saya de Malha leaves for its third dFAD clean-up expedition

    (Seychelles Nation) The Saya de Malha vessel of the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) left Port Victoria yesterday afternoon for its third drifting Fishing Aggregate Devices (dFAD) expedition clean-up exercise in Seychelles territorial waters and shores of the outer islands. As customary since the first expedition in October 2022, students from Seychelles[…]

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Coming Soon!

Coral Aquaculture Facility!

coral aquaculture web banner

We have started work on the Assisted Recovery of Corals (ARC) facility to revolutionise our coral reef restoration process Learn more

Find Us On ...

Implementing the SDGs

At Nature Seychelles we are committed to working with government, development partners and donors in implementing relevant actions, in particular, looking at certain goals where we can build on our existing strengths. Read more

Seychelles Wildlife

Natural environment of the Seychelles

Seychelles is a unique environment, which sustains a very special biodiversity. It is special for a number of different reasons. These are the oldest oceanic islands to be found anywhere...

Bird Watching

Seychelles is a paradise for birdwatchers, you can easily see the unique land birds, the important sea bird colonies, and the host of migrants and vagrants. Some sea bird...

Seychelles Black Parrot

Black Parrot or Kato Nwar in Creolee is brown-grey in colour, not truly black. Many bird experts treat it as a local form of a species found in Madagascar and...

Fairy Tern

The Fairy (or white) Tern is a beautiful bird seen on all islands in Seychelles, even islands like Mahe where they are killed by introduced rats, cats and Barn Owls....

Introduced Land Birds

A little over two hundred years ago, there were no humans living permanently in Seychelles. When settlement occurred, people naturally brought with them the animals and plants they needed to...

Native Birds

Although over 190 different species of bird have been seen on or around the central islands of Seychelles (and the number is increasing all the time), many of these are...

Migrant Shore Birds

Shallow seas and estuaries are very rich in invertebrate life. Many birds feed on the worms, crabs and shellfish in these habitats; often, they have long bills for probing sand...

Seychelles Magpie Robin

The most endangered of the endemic birds, Seychelles Magpie Robin or Pi Santez in Creole, came close to extinction in the late twentieth century; in 1970 there were only about...

Seychelles Blue Pigeon

The Seychelles Blue Pigeon or Pizon Olande in Creole, spends much of its life in the canopy of trees and eats the fruits of figs, bwa dir, ylang ylang and...

Seychelles White-eye

The Seychelles White-eye or Zwazo Linet in Creole, is rare and endemic. They may sometimes be seen in gardens and forest over 300m at La Misere, Cascade and a few...

Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher

The Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher or the Vev in Creole is endemic to Seychelles, you cannot find this bird anywhere else on earth. Although it was once widespread on...

Seychelles Sunbird

The tiny sunbird or Kolibri in Creole, is one of the few endemic species that has thrived since humans arrived in the Seychelles.

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Achievements

  • Stopped near extinctions of birds +

    Down-listing of the critically endangered Seychelles warbler from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened. Other Seychelles birds have also been saved including the Seychelles Magpie Robin, Seychelles Fody, and the Seychelles
  • Restored whole island ecosystems +

    We transformed Cousin Island from a coconut plantation to a thriving vibrant and diverse island ecosystem. Success achieved on Cousin was replicated on other islands with similar conservation activities.
  • Championed climate change solutions +

    Nature Seychelles has risen to the climate change challenge in our region in creative ways to adapt to the inevitable changing of times.
  • Education and Awareness +

    We have been at the forefront of environmental education, particularly with schools and Wildlife clubs
  • Sustainable Tourism +

    We manage the award-winning eco-tourism programme on Cousin Island started in 1970
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The Reef Rescuers Project

camila reef rescuers

The planet’s oceans are under severe threat from climate change which has recently been identified as the single most palpable threat to all marine ecosystems. The impact of climate change on global coral reefs has been devastating, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people including coastal communities within Eastern Africa and the islands of the Western Indian Ocean. Over the past two decades, coral reefs within the region have suffered widespread degradation through a series of ocean warming events and subsequent coral bleaching. This resulted in an average loss of 90 % live coral cover in 1998 and a further 50 % loss in 2016. In addition to coral mortality, coral bleaching inhibits overall reef health and resilience capacity, coral reproduction and increases disease prevalence.

Motivated by slow post-bleaching recovery rates, the ‘Reef Rescuers’ project was developed to restore the fringing coral reef within Cousin Island Special Reserve. The first-ever large-scale reef restoration project began in 2010 with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development  (USAID). From 2011-2015, The project built and cultivated 12 midwater nurseries(9 rope nurseries and 3 net nurseries), filled initially with up to 40,000 coral fragments or nubbins (from donor corals and corals of opportunity) of 34 coral species (branching, massive and encrusting). A total of 24,431 corals were transplanted in an area of 5,225 m2 within the no-take marine reserve of Cousin Island Special Reserve. Further financial support was received under the Government of Seychelles-Global Environment Facility (GEF)-United Nations Development Project (UNDP) Protected Area Project in 2011  that supported the transplantation of 2,015 corals in an area of 1,636 m2 at a small bay (Petite Anse Kerlan) within the Constance Lemuria 5-star resort in Praslin. Funding from the European Union through the Indian Ocean Commission supported the cultivation of 2000 coral fragments in a restoration project with Six Senses Zil Pasyon Resort at Felicite Island. 

The project has had a very positive knowledge-building impact, with over 60 scientific divers and volunteers trained on reef restoration techniques and the first-ever Reef Rescuers Training program delivered in 2015, with six multinational trainees successfully completing the eight-week training program. A second regional training program from the Western Indian Ocean region was delivered to participants from Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Rodrigues in 2018. To further disseminate knowledge gained from the ongoing Reef Rescuers project, a ‘Reef Restoration Toolkit’ has been published, highlighting lessons learned and restoration best practices. Further support from USAID resulted in the establishment of the Centre for Ocean Restoration Awareness and Learning (CORAL) on Praslin to act as a national and regional hub for knowledge sharing.

See: USAID Restoring Coral Reefs in the Face of Climate Changein the Seychelles

CRP Logo Lockup for Nature Seychelles

In 2020, we started a new phase of the project to upscale these milestones, which is supported by a grant from the Adaptation Fund through UNDP and the Government of Seychelles through the Restoring Marine Ecosystem Services by Restoring Coral Reefs to Meet a Changing Climate Future project. The project is a regional collaboration between Seychelles and Mauritius to restore reefs using ocean and land-based nurseries, as well as to bolster regional scientific advances and exchanges. The “reef gardening” concept will continue to be used aiming at cultivating at least 50 000 coral fragments to restore at least 1ha of degraded reef around Cousin Island Special Reserve. The project will also look at novel techniques from overseas in coral genetics and reproduction. 

Coral Aquaculture:

Construction has begun of Africa's first on-land regenerative coral aquaculture facility on Praslin, under the current project. Known as the Assisted Recovery of Corals (ARC), the facility is set to revolutionize coral reef conservation and restoration by using a novel technique called micro-fragmentation to produce thousands of coral fragments to supplement current ocean-based nurseries. The facility is financially supported by the Adaptation Fund, the global shipping and logistics company CMA CGM, and the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT).

CMA SEYCATTlockup

Current collaborations

Demi Damstra, MSc 

Demi Damstra, a student from the University of Groningen, is looking at the effectiveness of different outplanting patterns including the comparison between entire nursery-grown coral vs fragments collected from nursery-grown colonies. If the experiment is successful, we will be able to outplant many more fragments originating from our nurseries.

Charlotte Dale, MSc

Charlotte is a student from Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh) working on the comparison of stocking techniques to implement the productivity and success of the coral nursery phase.

Coastruction

We have partnered with Coastruction, a company focused on the 3D printing of artificial structures (AS). We are testing materials and shapes to find the most ecological functioning strategy to include the use of AS in the restoration project. If you want to be part of this initiative you can visit the following link and support the project with a donation.

Dr. Luca Fallati, PhD (University of Milano-Bicocca)

Photogrammetry is among the novel monitoring techniques in coral restoration. We have partnered with an international expert to obtain the best quality of data to study the success of coral restoration over time using advanced technological tools.

Raffles Seychelles

We have partnered with Raffles in Seychelles to train international and local staff in coral restoration techniques while actively restoring the reef at Anse Takamaka, Praslin, Seychelles. Raffles has developed a restoration project as part of their sustainability strategy to restore the reef in front of the guest’s beach and to spread awareness on this and other environment initiatives. 

The Reef Rescuers achieved their 2021 target of 8000 super corals in culture

 

Programme News

Nature Seychelles outplanted 4,000 corals in Cousin Island Special Reserve in 2022

Seychelles News Agency - Heat-resilient "super corals": Nature Seychelles setting up aquaculture farm for future corals

Greenpeace - A day in the life of a Reef Rescuer – Vital Ocean Voices

BirdLife International - Saving Seychelles disappearing coral reefs

BBC News: Is 'super coral' the key to saving the world's reefs?

WIOMSA - Reef Rescuers: A decade of coral reef restoration in SeychellesReef Rescuers: A decade of coral reef restoration in Seychelles

Reef Resilience Network - Reef Rescuers: Coral Gardening as an MPA Management Tool

An early start for coral reef conservation

PANORAMA Solutions - Reef Rescuers: Restoring coral reef ecosystem services

UNEP - Cousin Island Reef Rescuers Project - Wedocs.unep.org.

Saving the Giant Clams

Constance Lemuria and Nature Seychelles to restore coral reefs

Senior United States Official visits Nature Seychelles’ conservation sites

Black Pearl Seychelles Ltd donates Giant Clams to Reef Rescuers

Restauration des récifs coralliens des Seychelles (French, Plongeur.com Magazine)

Nursing Indian Ocean coral reefs back to life (Deutsche Welle)

US Ambassador praises coral project

Help in deep waters

US Navy personnel give back to conservation projects

Reef Rescuers: The people who plant corals

A day in the life of a reef rescuer

Building coral reefs of the future

Press Release: Launching of project to save reefs from climate change

Videos

CNN-Inside Africa - Reef rescuers race against time

Reef Rescuers Project Launch (SBC news segment in Creole)

French Documentary on Reef Rescuers Project (Franck Fougère-Gnagni - Les Seychelles, Une Seconde vie pour le Corail + BONUS Longitude 181 et François Sarano)

See more on Nature Seychelles You Tube Channel

Audio

Saving coral reefs in the Seychelles (Radio piece by Deutsche Welle)

Saving endemic and threatened species


Nature Seychelles Science Programme involves research, monitoring and management of threatened endemic wildlife and their habitats. As a Birdlife International Partner we concentrate on threatened endemic bird conservation, but more recently, and in line with other conservation needs of Seychelles, we have expanded our focus and are working on other taxa including mammals, reptiles, insects and marine species.  We increase the quantity and quality of our research by conducting much of our research in partnership with institutes such as Universities.

We have undertaken research on coral reefs and the effects of bleaching, reef fish assemblages, marine turtles, Sooglossid frogsSheath tailed batsSeychelles fody, Seychelles magpie-robinSeychelles warblerSeychelles Kestrel, seabirds, introduced white-flies.

Programme News

Water for birds

Partnership for Seychelles iconic bird

An amazing conservation success story in Seychelles | BirdLife

BirdLife's History in Objects: #2 "Your own private tropical island ...

Angry Birds fight extinctions!

World Environment Day - Nature Seychelles celebrates achievements and reflects on new directions

Translocation Success: Seychelles Paradise Flycatchers take to Denis

A First for Seychelles and the Region - Cousin celebrates IBA branding

Cousin Island in the New Scientist

Of Moorhens and Magpie Robins

Hawksbill Turtle Monitoring and Research

The largest hawksbill turtle (Erechmotelys imbricata) population remaining in the Western Indian Ocean occurs in Seychelles.  However, populations have declined due to widespread harvesting of nesting females during the 30 years prior to 1994, when a total legal ban on turtle harvest was implemented.  An exception to the downward trend is the population at Cousin Island Special Reserve, managed by Nature Seychelles.

Turtle monitoring has been in operation on Cousin since 1972. Turtle monitoring forms a core part of the  Cousin  work programs during the nesting season. Records of dates and locations are kept as nesting beaches are patrolled several times a day during daylight.

Tagging has been carried out since 1973.  Wardens on Cousin apply metal tags bearing a unique identification code to the trailing edge of both front flippers of each nesting turtle encountered during beach patrols. This long-running activity has allowed Cousin to identify individual females as they return to the beaches to nest season after season.

Programme News

Conservation success: Eight-fold increase of turtle nesting on Cousin Island

The one in a thousand

Woman jailed for turtle shell smuggling

Woman Convicted for turtle meat possession

Small Grants Programme supports Turtles

 

Attachments:
Download this file (HawksbillTurtleCousin2010.pdf)Hawksbill turtle monitoring in Cousin Island Special Reserve, Seychelles: an eig[Hawksbill turtle monitoring in Cousin Island Special Reserve, Seychelles: an eight-fold increase in annual nesting numbers]240 kB

Ecosystem management and rehabilitation


We are a leader in environmental restoration, particularly of island ecosystems. We have carried out restoration or rehabilitation on a number of islands. This typically involves several stages:

  1. The removal of alien predators such as rats
  2. The control or removal of alien plants and reforestation through replacement with native species
  3. The reintroduction of native animals

A good example is  major island restoration programme initiated in 1999  and financed by the GEF, the Seychelles government and island owners. A collaborative effort, it involved Nature Seychelles, international partners such as BirdLife International, private island owners and the Seychelles Government. Through this programme biological assessment of islands, cost analysis of restoration and maintenance, education and awareness, island management plans, removal of alien predators and other invasive alien species, establishment or rehabilitation of native coastal habitats, translocation of globally threatened endemic species and socio-economic valuation of restored ecosystems and ecotourism were undertaken. Islands in the programme included Frégate, Cousine, North and Denis Islands.

Nature Seychelles has published biological assessments of many Seychelles islands as well as a manual of assessment methods. The organisation has also published several papers on the subject including methods of eradicating Mynah birds.

Partners & Awards

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Our History

Since 1998.

Seychelles Nature, Green HealthClimate Change, Biodiversity Conservation & Sustainability Organisation

@CousinIsland Manager

Facebook: http://goo.gl/Q9lXM

Roche Caiman, Mahe

Donate

We accept donations. Your support and generosity help us continue with our work in nature conservation in Seychelles. Email nature@seychelles.netdonate

Contact Us

Centre for Environment & Education

Roche Caiman,

P.O. Box 1310, Mahe, Seychelles

Tel:+ 248 2519090

Email: nature@seychelles.net