INITIATIVES
In a Nutshell
Project Laut is committed to improving the conservation of Hawksbill sea turtles & their habitats throughout Indonesia & the greater Coral Triangle area.
Although Hawksbill turtles are critically endangered worldwide, we are fortunate to have a high abundance in Indonesia due to the resilience & abundance of the coral reefs. While most turtle conservation projects focus on nesting & hatching, Project Laut instead focuses on individual identification and long-term monitoring in order to identify migration patterns, discover areas of high ecological importance, and assess the overall status of the Hawksbill Indo-Pacific sub-population. The migratory pathways of Hawksbill sea turtles as they pass through the Indo-Pacific region are not well understood at the moment, and this creates challenges when implementing conservation strategies.
Project Laut aims to increase the quality of Hawksbill sea turtle conservation through the individual identification & long-term tracking of individuals of this critically endangered species. We achieve this through use of photo-identification, which presents a fantastic & non-invasive methodology of monitoring these sea turtles across large temporal and geographical scales.
We also undertake direct restoration action through coral restoration on our house reef, as well as other vulnerable areas around Nusa Penida. Through the restoration & rehabilitation of the reefs, we hope to help ensure Penida will remain a healthy & thriving ecosystem for Hawksbill sea turtles in the future.
Although Hawksbill turtles are critically endangered worldwide, we are fortunate to have a high abundance in Indonesia due to the resilience & abundance of the coral reefs. While most turtle conservation projects focus on nesting & hatching, Project Laut instead focuses on individual identification and long-term monitoring in order to identify migration patterns, discover areas of high ecological importance, and assess the overall status of the Hawksbill Indo-Pacific sub-population. The migratory pathways of Hawksbill sea turtles as they pass through the Indo-Pacific region are not well understood at the moment, and this creates challenges when implementing conservation strategies.
Project Laut aims to increase the quality of Hawksbill sea turtle conservation through the individual identification & long-term tracking of individuals of this critically endangered species. We achieve this through use of photo-identification, which presents a fantastic & non-invasive methodology of monitoring these sea turtles across large temporal and geographical scales.
We also undertake direct restoration action through coral restoration on our house reef, as well as other vulnerable areas around Nusa Penida. Through the restoration & rehabilitation of the reefs, we hope to help ensure Penida will remain a healthy & thriving ecosystem for Hawksbill sea turtles in the future.
Hawksbills
Our Hawksbill project focuses on the identification & tracking of individual turtles. We are able to do this because the pattern of scales, or scutes, on the sides of the head of the Hawksbill are patterned in a unique way, similar to a thumbprint. By generating this identifying pattern, and using an advanced pattern recognition software, we are able to reliably & accurately track movement of individuals over long time scales.
By doing this over a long period of time, we can establish & investigate several key areas such as: population estimates, local movements & behaviours, % of resident vs traveling turtles, average residency period, & of course larger movement and migration patterns.
By doing this over a long period of time, we can establish & investigate several key areas such as: population estimates, local movements & behaviours, % of resident vs traveling turtles, average residency period, & of course larger movement and migration patterns.
Our methodology for turtle data collection is as follows:
- Bring underwater video devices on all dives
- When a turtle is spotted, generate a high-quality video of both sides of the turtles head
Make a screenshot of the frames showing the highest quality shot of the left & right identifying pattern
- Save the screenshots into our categorized folders
- Run the screenshots through the I3S pattern recognition software
- Manually search through ranked matches
- If a re-sighted turtle, log the name, date, & location
- If a newly identified turtle, save the identifying pattern into the recognition software
- Generate a new, unique name, & log the date & location of the sighting
ADOPT A TURTLE
Whether for yourself, a loved one, or as the perfect gift for an ocean lover, our adopt a turtle package is sure to bring the feeling of happiness & quality fulfillment.
With this program, you can name a turtle, get monthly updates on it’s movements, & even receive bonus behind-the-scenes footage of your identified turtle enjoying life on the coral reefs.
With this program, you can name a turtle, get monthly updates on it’s movements, & even receive bonus behind-the-scenes footage of your identified turtle enjoying life on the coral reefs.
ADOPT A CORAL
Have you ever sought to offset your carbon footprint?
Adopting a coral can be an amazing & fun path towards carbon neutrality! Through our program, you can sponsor an individual coral, a single coral reef star, or an entire reef stand (4 reef stars, each with 18 coral fragments).
Receive photo updates on the progress of your coral piece or patch over time & watch it grow together with us!
Adopting a coral can be an amazing & fun path towards carbon neutrality! Through our program, you can sponsor an individual coral, a single coral reef star, or an entire reef stand (4 reef stars, each with 18 coral fragments).
Receive photo updates on the progress of your coral piece or patch over time & watch it grow together with us!
Coral Rehabilitation
Our coral rehabilitation project focuses on reef restoration following the MARRS method. This method has been documented to be one of the most efficient methods of restoring ecosystem functions to areas of damaged reef.
The trademark structure of the MARRS method is the reef star – a small, modular metal structure that has 6 legs that create a sort of elevated hexagonal structure roughly 30cm tall and 60cm wide. The reef stars are easy & fun to build, and can be banded together to cover large areas of coral rubble. The benefit of the reef stars are twofold.
Firstly, the reef stars are a solid structure that we can attach coral to. One reef star can fix up to 18 pieces of coral fragments. Once attached, the coral fragments have an extremely high success rate, and quickly populate the entirety of the reef star.
Secondly, the many legs of the reef stars actually stabilize the coral rubble patch, allowing for natural reef cementation to occur. Once this happens, the unsuitable & unstable coral rubble patch becomes a solid mass that is perfect for natural coral recruitment.
This is the true beauty of the MARRS method – we deploy the structures to act as a “seed” for collected coral fragments, but the main force of the reef stars is changing the substrate to allow nature to replenish itself.
By creating many different “stands” of reef stars, with mixed vs non-mixed plantings, we can also create valuable data that can help understand how different planting techniques respond to environmental pressures.
Some of the topics that could be discovered using this method are: How well do mixed vs non-mixed coral patches grow over time, how they respond to bleaching events, how they respond to nutrient run off, & are the fish assemblages different at mixed vs non-mixed stands, to name a few.
The trademark structure of the MARRS method is the reef star – a small, modular metal structure that has 6 legs that create a sort of elevated hexagonal structure roughly 30cm tall and 60cm wide. The reef stars are easy & fun to build, and can be banded together to cover large areas of coral rubble. The benefit of the reef stars are twofold.
Firstly, the reef stars are a solid structure that we can attach coral to. One reef star can fix up to 18 pieces of coral fragments. Once attached, the coral fragments have an extremely high success rate, and quickly populate the entirety of the reef star.
Secondly, the many legs of the reef stars actually stabilize the coral rubble patch, allowing for natural reef cementation to occur. Once this happens, the unsuitable & unstable coral rubble patch becomes a solid mass that is perfect for natural coral recruitment.
This is the true beauty of the MARRS method – we deploy the structures to act as a “seed” for collected coral fragments, but the main force of the reef stars is changing the substrate to allow nature to replenish itself.
By creating many different “stands” of reef stars, with mixed vs non-mixed plantings, we can also create valuable data that can help understand how different planting techniques respond to environmental pressures.
Some of the topics that could be discovered using this method are: How well do mixed vs non-mixed coral patches grow over time, how they respond to bleaching events, how they respond to nutrient run off, & are the fish assemblages different at mixed vs non-mixed stands, to name a few.
