Turtle Release 26th October

Upon arriving at work this morning we were alerted to a turtle that was on a local fishing boat, the fishermen allowed us to purchase the turtle for TOP30. Though we do not like paying for turtles as a means to preserve them unfortunately this is often the only way we can secure a release.

Kate Walker with the Turtle 

Monitoring Project

The small green turtle was in a very healthy condition luckily and only had 3 minimal scratches possibly from being in the boat. We brought it back down to the waterfront and Kate came over to take measurements and to tag the turtle with flipper tags.

 47.5 cm in length of the carapace

The green measured 47.5cm in length of the carapace or shell and although the minimum catch size is 45 cm we are currently in the closed season for hunting. The Vava’u Turtle Monitoring Project aims to reduce the illegal catches of turtles such as this one through community assistance and education. This program is running alongside of VEPA and VEPA will continue its work to raise awareness and rescue turtles as we can.

Once the turtle had received its 2 flipper tags, it was whisked off back to the ocean and released near some sea grass beds, which is the main food source for green turtles.

Tagging the turtle's flipper

At 47.5cm this turtle is not yet sexually mature and sexual identification is hard to determine, turtles will disappear from the nest to the open ocean and float around until they come back to shore at approx. 20cm (dinner plate size though I hate using that term as a marker!). The estimates of sexual maturity range between 20-30 years old and this turtle had quite a way to go before reaching that stage.

The tagging of this turtle enables us to monitor if it is caught or seen again, and the information is passed along to the pacific database.

Karen Stone and Langi at Dive Vava'u

The turtles are about to begin their nesting season here and between the VTMP and VEPA we hope to successfully engage communities to recording and establishing data with us. This will work towards the goal of reducing catches and egg taking and turning towards turtles as an income source for communities through eco-tourism.

VEPA would like to thank all those involved in the successful rescue this morning, we are hoping for more successes as the Turtle project comes into full work soon.

For more information on VEPA and the turtle project please contact us by email on info@vavauenvironment.org or turtles@vavauenvironment.org.

Facebook us on: VEPA http://facebook.com/vavauenviro or http://facebook.com/vavauturtle

Blog post by Karen Stone (VEPA Project Coordinator) 

Matamaka Coral Reef Fish Nursery

The rope nursery which will be catching coral spawn

During the last month I have been working with the kids from Matamaka GPS to set up a coral reef nursery. Two methods are being used to promote coral growth.  The first one being a rope nursery made up of two ropes tied to buoys floating on the surface and bricks at the bottom to keep them tight. These ropes were then tied onto an existing rope which has been in the water for years and has many corals growing on it. Hopefully the new ropes will catch lots of coral spawn and over the time, have coral heads growing on them as well.

 The coral frame with the coral fragments tied onto it

The second method consists of a 1m x 1m re-bar frame on which broken coral fragments rescued from the seabed are tied onto. These fragments will slowly grow onto the frame creating a small artificial reef. This method is a bit more complicated as the frame has to be placed in an area with the right conditions (e.g  light, temperature, water flow, nutrient and sediment load). This isn’t turning out to be the easiest as sometimes the ‘perfect’ spot would be where the fishermen throw their anchors or its too deep for the kids to swim out to. The students will be undertaking monthly monitoring of the nurseries including recording the number of fish, water temperature, colour of the coral, replacing any broken or damaged coral and brushing off any algal growth.  By looking after these projects, the kids will learn how important coral reefs are in providing habitat and food as well as how slowly corals grow after they have been damaged.

But it’s not all hard work...once a week the kids practice their snorkelling skills in the shallow sandy area and lately I’ve been taking a few at a time to the reef just in front of the school which is a lot more interesting in terms of sea life. They don’t stop pointing at every single fish, sea star or anything they see. It’s really rewarding seeing them so happy! I’ve told them it is really important not to stand on the coral or touch it, so a few times already I’ve nearly drowned due to having six kids hanging on to me to stay afloat! But they are getting very good with their fins and snorkels!

The kids of Matamaka getting ready for 

their snorkelling class

The kids also got a chance to be movie stars for a day as Matamaka was the ‘movie studio’ for an IMAX movie being filmed in Tonga about the humpback whales and the people of Tonga. The kids were filmed learning how to snorkel and also tying coral fragments onto the coral frame (which is really good, because it means the project will appear on IMAX theatres all around the world!).

I am very lucky I got assigned this project, working with kids and being in the water most of the day is all I could ever ask for, I love it! Thank you very much to the families of Matamaka and MacGillivray Freeman Films who donated the materials for this project.

October Terrestrial Environment Presentation

In the month of October VEPA headed out to the local high schools to do a presentation on the terrestrial environments and some human influenced impacts Vava’u is facing.

Student playing 

environmental celebrity 

heads

Vicky von Bernard (VEPA international volunteer) and I completed three presentations at Mailefihi Siuiliku Tabu College, Tailulu and Saineha Secondary School.  Unfortunately we were not able to complete the presentations at the other schools due to exams. 

The presentation touched on terrestrial biomes around the world, the unique Tongan biodiversity and endemic species as well as soil erosion, deforestation, dryland salinity, pollution and recycling.  

Elana and Viki a student 

from Tailulu

From previous presentations we have learnt that the students are shy and unwilling to put their hand up to ask questions or answer questions I ask them, even if they know the answer. To try and ‘loosen’ the crowd up we played Environmental Celebrity Heads with them.  A volunteer was chosen from the crowd to come up the front.  An environmental process or topic was stuck on their heads and the rest of the class had to help them guess what it was without telling them the directly.  For every right clue they got a lollipop.  Its amazing how kids shyness melts away when offered a sweet!

The students at Tailulu School in particular touched me.  With two enthusiastic students coming up to me at the end of the presentation and explaining their passion for the environment and how they would love to come and volunteer for VEPA!  Sesika and Viki thank you for your dedication towards protecting Vava’u’s environment.  I look forward to working with you on future  VEPA projects. 

‘Ofa atu

Elana

Turtle project is moving forward

this link is for a blog post written by Karen, Project coordinator for VEPA about the attendance of Kate and Karen to the Tonga Community Turtle Monitoring and Eco-Tourism workshop that they attended in Nuku'alofa.

The project will be getting into full swing in a short period of time and we shall be keeping you up to date with details and progress as we go.

Luckily for Kate and Karen, turtles are found on beaches and reefs and not in 3 feet of mangrove mu like the MESCAL survey they were just involved in. No matter they were still smiling despite being a bit stinky!

Making recycled pot plants for local schools - regatta week

Last Thursday (27.09.12) VEPA held an event as part of the annual Regatta Week Festival (22^nd – 29^th September) where we made self watering recycled pot plants and planted seedlings to be donated to the local schools in Vava’u.

Yachties painting their recycled self watering pot plants

Me with a young participant 

The recycled pot plants were made out of used plastic water bottles, soil and a piece of wool that acts like a root drawing water up from the bottom of the bottle to feed the plant. A number of yachties and children attended to try their hand at making these pot plants and planted their choice of either Marigold flowers, Basil or Tomato seeds. They then painted them bright colours and some even wrote messages on the pots for the schools. Everyone was very excited by how easily they could make the pot plants themselves and were very happy that they could help out with an activity to benefit the local children here in Vava’u.

These bags were handed out so yachts can collect
rubbish from the outer islands during their stay

Once the seedlings have started to grow, VEPA will be delivering them to the local schools that are participating in the ‘Clean School Program’ (run by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change with VEPA's assistance).  This will help teach the kids about how they can re-use their waste and turn it into something useful.

Elana also did a presentation on coral reefs that highlighted what we can do personally to help protect them and keep them clean. It was a really fun day and I think everybody had a great time (despite the rain!). 

Malo aupito to everyone that helped out and made the day such a success!

Aimee Foster

(VEPA Volunteer)