Seychelles’ sea turtle festival returns |04 August 2014

Last year’s event was a success and the organisers have decided to run the Seychelles Sea Turtle Festival again on August 8-9, 2014.
The opening ceremony will be held on Friday August 8 from 2pm to 4pm at the National Theatre, Mont Fleuri.

The festival aims to unite all organisations that have turtle-monitoring programmes in Seychelles and to raise awareness and celebrate sea turtles.
Both Hawksbill and Green Turtles are globally endangered but are frequently found in Seychelles waters.

Worldwide, turtles face threats such as poaching, entanglement in fishing nets and the destruction of nesting beaches through coastal development.

Within the Seychelles there has been a long tradition of harvesting marine turtles, and Green Turtles remained an important food source up until the mid 1990s. But since 1994, sea turtles have been afforded full protection under Seychelles law, and it is now illegal to kill, possess or eat turtle meat.

Seychelles Sea Turtle Festival is organised by a committee of individuals from various organisations who are all passionate about sea turtle conservation.

The festival promises to be even bigger than last year.
The opening ceremony on August 8 will once again feature presentations on turtle conservation and a prize-giving ceremony for the winners of the various competitions that have been held in local schools, including a public speaking, song and calendar competition.

This year the festival has been generously supported for the first time by the Environment Trust Fund, and once again by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environment and Energy, and Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

On Saturday August 9 from 12 noon to 4pm, the family fun day returns to Beau Vallon beach with more games, turtle themed activities, and to give  information on turtle research and conservation in Seychelles.

The day is expected to attract people of all ages, including both tourists visiting the area and members of the local community. There will be arts and crafts activities, snorkeling, sandcastle competition, kite flying, face painting. There will also be food and drinks on sale, and lots more!  

Pure FM radio will also be on site broadcasting live to provide entertainment and updates on the festival activities.  

For further information about the Seychelles Sea Turtle Festival please visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Seychelles-Sea-Turtle-Festival/665862866762220?ref=hl or if you would like to get involved please contact seychellesseaturtlefestival@yahoo.com