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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Pa Manz Torti - Turtles are not pigs

Heartfelt songs and speeches from the next generation of conservationists filled the hall of the National Theatre in Mont Fleuri during the launch of the annual Sea Turtle Festival, entertaining while educating guests of the importance of sea turtle protection in Seychelles.

The hawksbill turtle and the green turtles are endangered species found in Seychelles. In fact Seychelles has one of the world’s largest populations of the hawksbill turtle, which is listed by the IUCN as a critically endangered species.

Through art, debate and song competitions centred around the theme ‘Sea Turtle Conservation in the Seychelles’, the best of which were showcased at the launch of the festival, youth from various schools defended the right of sea turtles to wander the seas freely as they have for millions of years.

The festival brought together individuals and organizations passionate about and working in sea turtle conservation as does Nature Seychelles. Nature Seychelles participated in the Festival because it has a turtle conservation program on Cousin Island Special Reserve. The NGO is running the world’s longest running monitoring program for Hawksbill turtles in the world.

Nature Seychelles invites young people from all over the world to participate in turtle conservation on Cousin and has supported schools and wildlife clubs with educational materials, such as posters. In fact at the festival, Nature Seychelles’ Conservation Manager April Burt distributed turtle posters made by the NGO and encouraged young people to take up careers in conservation by speaking to them of the ongoing turtle conservation work on Cousin Island, the single most important nesting site for the Hawksbill turtle species in the West Indian Ocean.

Traditionally, marine turtles, more so Green Turtles were an important food source for Seychellois until 1994 when the government of Seychelles passed a law making it illegal to kill, eat or own turtle meat.

In their artwork, songs and speeches, the youth participating at the launch of the sea turtle festival were clearly aware of and horrified in their knowledge of turtle harvesting activities, which although does not occur at the rates prior to the 1990s, still occurs sporadically. Yet they were determined to change attitudes, if not of the older generation, then definitely that of their peers to protect rather than poach sea turtles.

There were also several speeches presented at the launch by conservationists and representatives of various organisations working in marine conservation in the Seychelles. Notably, Dr. Jeanne Mortimer presenting the final speech of the afternoon during the launch held the attention of the audience when she said “turtles are not pigs”. She compared the widely differing life cycles of pigs and sea turtles by showing how pig populations only required nine months to recover while sea turtles required fifty years and can therefore not be eaten at the same rate.

On Saturday afternoon at Beau Vallon Beach, the tone of the festival took on a more festive feel but the underlying need for protection of turtles was just as powerful if not more so. Through fun activities by various organizations working in marine conservation, children were treated to face paintings, arts and crafts, kite competitions, sand (turtle) castle competitions and other fun activities centred around turtle research and conservation.

Adults were equally caught up in the excitement and several could be seen showing off temporary turtle tattoos on their faces and legs. The location of Beau Vallon beach is also centrally located which guaranteed it was well attended by many Seychellois as well as international tourists

Photos: 1) Young MCs at the launch 2) Singing for the protection of turtles 3) April giving out posters in Beau Vallon Beach 4) Turtle face painting

 

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

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Contact Us

Centre for Environment & Education

Roche Caiman,

P.O. Box 1310, Mahe, Seychelles

Tel:+ 248 2519090

Email: nature@seychelles.net