3 more Olive Ridley turtles freed from ghost nets.

It's been just a month since the last time we rescued an Olive Ridley sea turtle. Yesterday morning , close to the Banana Reef, Gili boat crew found THREE Olive Ridley's tangled up in a discarded fishing net.

Dive centre team kindly volunteered to help our marine biologist to free the turtles. On the boat we carefully cut the nets away from turtle limbs. The curved carapace length measurements of three turtles were taken, & the damage done by the nets was inspected. 

The largest turtle was 61cm curved carapace length (CCL) and was very healthy with virtually no tissue serration. Second largest turtle was 56cm CCL, and the net has cut deep into the flesh of front right limb, the limb was however still fully mobile and the injury did not require treatment. Lastly the smallest tangled turtle was 48 CCL, and had minor tissue scraping on both front limbs. 

This is the 4th time we encounter Olive ridley turtles tangled/injured by marine debris. This time the turtles were healthy, with all limbs present and did not require any further care. It's hovewer sheer luck that our boat crew noticed the net and the turtles today. If they were not rescued the turtles would have kept moving trying to free themselves, and unfortunately, over time, cut-off their limbs on the nylon or simply get more and more tangled. 

We are sending a report together with ghost net samples to Marine Research Centre in Male.

Olive ridley sea turtles are rarely seen close to the coast and they live their life in the open ocean. They associate with natural oceanic flotsam (palm leaves, driftwood, etc.). Unfortunately In modern day world oceans are full of manmade debris, and these turtles end up getting tangled in plastics and nets, as they mistake them for a suitable habitat. It is perhaps not a coincidence that in just one year we have observed 6 Olive Ridley sea turtles that were in trouble.

Video from VK on Vimeo.

A quick update on the Olive Ridley rescued last month 

News have reached us from Four Seasons at Kuda Huraa, that the one-limbed sea turtle found in March  is eating well, however it is still suffering from buoyancy issues (i.e. floats on surface). The marine biologists of Four Seasons will keep us updated.  For the full story of this turtle click here ...

A hermit crab makes a plastic home. We dive against debris.

Just a few days ago, a hermit crab with quite an extraordinary shell caught the attention of our General Manager Iain. A hermit crab which made it's home in a plastic cap and not a natural sea shell.

Although creative on the Hermit Crab side, it is also sad to see; the environment that humans have created in today's world has caused animals to revert to such desperate measures rather than having natural accommodation.

We witness, and clean the plastic waste that washes up on our beach daily. Plastic pollution is relatively invisible in the ocean (because it is diluted). However it does eventually become obvious when washes ashore spoiling beautiful beaches, and affecting animals in rather shocking ways. 

What we do ? 

As a resort we minimise our plastic waste outputs; e.g.  we have a glass water bottling plant on-site (no PET water bottles), and we avoid importing soft drinks in plastic (we choose cans & glass). Guests also are encouraged to take their own plastic waste out of Maldives, back to their home, where recycling facilities are available.

We also ask everyone on the island to not collect empty sea shells; which normally act as home to such hermit crabs. 

Dive Against Debris - spreading marine debris awareness

Participating in global ProjectAWARE diver movement, we went for a Dive Against Debris with 5 divers this month, and our General Manager Iain, joined us as well ! We went out to check back on the debris situation of our house reef, and luckily we only found about 4 Kg of debris. Dominant items were plastic & glass bottles, as well as aluminum soft drink cans.Although such dives do not change the whole world in one day, they effectively spread awareness and understanding of marine debris problem. Support ProjectAWARE on their cause - Dive Against Debris ! 

Easter Egg Hunt, Gili Way !

Have you ever attempted an Easter egg hunt underwater ?..

Children at Gili Lankanfushi participated in such hunt as part of our Easter celebrations.

20 Easter eggs were found in our blue lagoon, and successfully traded for delicious chocolate !

Earth Hour +

A 1000 square meter sand drawing was achieved today through combined efforts Gili Lankanfushi team and our guests. It represents the 60 minutes of the Earth Hour, plus a little bit more that we try to do here at Gili Lankanfushi!

Nearly 1000 square meters (23 meters tall, and 43 meter wide) it’s a big expression of our attention to the planet.

We hope everyone will take some time today to think about how to make their daily lives more friendly to our planet Earth.