Nature Seychelles is recruiting volunteers for the hawksbill turtle nesting season, which will start October 2024 and end in April 2025 on the Cousin Island Special Reserve. The chief executive of Nature Seychelles, Dr Nirmal Jivan Shah, described Cousin Island as one of the most important nesting sites for hawksbill turtles in the western Indian Ocean. «We need a number of dedicated individuals who are collecting data and monitoring this critically endangered species at all times during the breeding season. We just don't have enough staff to do this, especially on the weekends and public holidays. The volunteer programme aims to help bring in enough hands to assist in this vital project to ensure each season is just as successful and productive as the last,» he emphasised. The hawksbill sea turtle is classified on the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a critically endangered species. The species is largely limited to tropical and subtropical marine and estuary ecosystems. The programme is the longest-running hawksbill monitoring programme in the world and Shah said it is highly effective and has been able to intercept about 87-90 percent of all successfully nesting females. «From this, we can get their tag IDs and feed this into the turtle database to estimate the number of nesting females. Nests are marked and excavated to assess hatching success. Nests are translocated when at risk with hatching successes of this activity as high as 96 percent. These three factors alone can act as great indicators for the species as a whole as if there is a sudden drop in nesting females, dropping fertility or, more and more nests at risk due to erosion, we will know about it,» he added. The hawksbill sea turtle is classified on the IUCN Red List as a critically endangered species. (Nature Seychelles) Photo License: All Rights Reserved  He explained the importance that volunteers play in the successful running of the programme and that they «are worth their weight in gold when it gets busy to help share the workload as turtles come up the beach in numbers. They are critically endangered having had populations decimated in the past by human activity so the more we know now, the better our decisions for future protection can be. For people thinking of volunteering, it helps increase the visibility of the programme.» Volunteers will be expected to assist in all aspects of turtle monitoring starting with the basic first steps of walking a turtle patrol on the beaches. As they gain experience, they will learn to observe nesting behaviour, how to take measurements, count clutches and, translocate a nest, and eventually, they might be ready and prepared to tag a turtle. Shah said this volunteer programme is an opportunity for people who are passionate about conservation to develop their skills in a unique environment. «We are after highly motivated, self-reliant individuals. As incredible and breathtaking Cousin Island is and as fascinating as the hawksbill themselves are, it is still hard work in a tropical environment so we need people to be physically fit and motivated to keep pushing to maximise each season. Flexibility is important given the turtles emerge at any time in the day, including when you have just sat down for lunch,» he said. Shah said for those looking at conservation as a career, the volunteer programme is an excellent and unique opportunity to acquire practical skills in turtle monitoring and management. Cousin Island is remote as well, so offers an opportunity for volunteers to develop their skills in self-reliance and life skills.  

Russian air defense forces have destroyed a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle

DSP Owen Brown, May Pen police (stationed in Clarendon since 2011): “It is a compilation of a number of factors, the main one is that we have not learned to deal with our differences. There are also too many people, who ‘see and blind, hear and...

The body of a 51-year-old woman was discovered in her 12th-storey flat at Block 1 Lorong Lew Lian in Upper Serangoon at around 9am on Friday (Aug 16) after neighbours detected a foul stench. According to a report by Shin Min Daily News, her 80-year-old neighbour, surnamed Huang, said she initially thought the smell was of a dead rat until her grandson shared that he had called the police about it. Huang said that her grandson, who is living with her while serving his national service, would see the deceased woman out buying groceries when he left the flat at 7am every morning, but he had not run into her for a few days. «I asked her next-door neighbour and she said [the deceased] wasn't seen drying her clothes since Monday, and she did not open her windows, which she usually did when she was at home,» Huang added. She told the Chinese evening daily that the deceased woman had lived in the flat for over 40 years with her parents and two brothers. After her parents died, one brother moved out of the home.

In a fit of anger after allegedly getting into a quarrel with his grandmother, a man threw furniture and electrical appliances from outside his second-storey home at Block 110 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4 on Friday (Aug 16) afternoon. A resident told Shin Min Daily News in a report published on Saturday that her husband first heard shouting and a loud bang and when he went to look for the source of the noise, he saw a man at the second-storey of the opposite block, hurling items off the corridor parapet. Footage provided by the resident showed the man carrying a white shoe cabinet with some difficulty before flinging it over the wall. The cabinet shattered to pieces as it hit the floor. There were also two broken fans seen at the foot of the block. When reporters arrived at the location, they saw two fans, a vacuum cleaner, potted plants and water bottles scattered on the ground floor, among other items. The man had reportedly left his home and the police arrived shortly after to cordon off the area.

La Polynésie a suivi Kauli Vaast dans ses folles aventures à Paris. De retour au fenua, le nouveau champion olympique a rendu visite aux jeunes surfeurs du Tahiti Nui surf club de Steven Pierson. Il est revenu sur son expérience hors du temps aux JO de Paris puis s'est confié sur ses nouveaux objectifs.

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Though the dynamics of the campaign have shifted since Biden got out, the findings in the new Post-ABC-Ipsos poll continue to point to a tight election in November.

LAST WEEK’S column entitled ‘O to be a ‘progressive Christian’!’ certainly saw some unexpected responses. Responses via email were surprisingly positive indicating that many had not given prior thought to the term “progressive”. “Thanks so much for...

THE FOLK religion known as Revivalism in Jamaica came out of the ‘Great Revival’ of the early 1860s. It is a syncretism of African spirituality and European religious beliefs and practices. It is called folk because it came from the psychology of...

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Vaccination, a practice dating back to the 15th century and gaining broader acceptance in the late 1700s, has been pivotal in public health globally. The establishment Jamaica’s immunisation programme in the 1980s marked a significant stride...

LONDON (AP): The World Health Organisation declared last Wednesday that the increasing spread of mpox in Africa is a global health emergency, warning the virus might ultimately spill across international borders. The announcement by WHO director-...

«We need to engage in basic diplomacy,» Jill Stein said

Jill Stein said that it is necessary to stop flow of weapons and funds that basically throw gasoline on the fires in Ukraine

US President Joe Biden’s optimism about the outcome of the talks in Qatar do not reflect the true situation, Hamas's spokesman in Lebanon Ahmad Abdulhadi said

It will be the Russian leader’s third in-person meeting with Azerbaijani counterpart Ilkham Aliyev this year

Malala Yousafzai, 27, attended the Taylor Swift's fifth concert at Wembley Stadium last night and revealed she spent it 'singing along to every song surrounded by friends'.

La sélection Tahitienne de va'a participait samedi 17 août au deuxième jour des championnats du monde de va'a vitesse dans les catégories élite et para. Les athlètes remportent douze médailles d'or, trois en argent et deux en bronze.

MOGADISHU: Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland executed 10 fighters from Al-Shabab on Saturday, the region’s police said in a statement.

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At least eight people were killed and several others wounded in twin explosions in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday, an official said.

Ramzan Kadyrov has taken a Tesla Cybertruck, equipped with a machine gun turret, for a test drive and pledged to send it to the frontlines Read Full Article at RT.com

Donald Trump is set to speak about crime and safety in Howell, Mich. Kamala Harris’s campaign said white supremacists marched there recently “in Trump’s name.”

After the death of her mother in 2002, the Queen grew more carefree, as though relieved of the burden of parental judgment. She relaxed into her role and had more fun.

Three weeks without a single green vegetable. A month without consuming any fruit. The only pulses? Tinned baked beans. This, according to a survey, is the diet of the average Briton.

King Charles has long been trying to get his brother out of the 30-room, £30milliion property in Windsor, which Andrew lives in with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.

The alarm was raised around 7am this morning at the four-star Reverence Mare Hotel in Palma Nova near Magaluf.

The pop star, 34, looked sensational in the leather number complete with cape and mesh torso which allowed her to give a peek of her toned tummy.

Selon un communiqué publié, ce jour, par le ministère des Affaires étrangères de la République Dominicaine, lors de l'audience que lui a accordée le Président de la République Dominicaine, M. Luis Abinader, a chargé le ministre des Affaires étrangères, de la Coopération africaine et des Marocains résidant à l'étranger, M. Nasser Bourita, de transmettre à Sa Majesté le Roi Mohammed VI, que Dieu L'assiste, "le soutien ferme de la République Dominicaine à la souveraineté du Maroc sur le (...) - COOPERATION / SUJET_ECRIT_MAISON

Le Président de la Transition, Président de la République, Chef de l'État, Son Excellence Général Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema a procédé ce jour au traditionnel dépôt de gerbe de fleurs au mausolée du Feu Léon Mba. Celebrée le 16 août de chaque année, cette tradition républicaine dédiée au père de la Nation, Premier président de la République , par ailleurs premier maire de la commune de Libreville, s'est déroulée en présence des membres du gouvernement, des personnalités politiques et (...) - POLITIQUE / SUJET_ECRIT_MAISON

Le Président de la Transition, Président de la République Chef de l'Etat le Général Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema a présidé ce mercredi le Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature en sa qualité de Président de ladite institution. Comme chaque année, le Président du Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature dirige une réunion de gestion du fonctionnement des juridictions et des carrières des magistrats. Tout en saluant les efforts, la détermination et la volonté de certains magistrats dans (...) - JUSTICE / SUJET_ECRIT_MAISON

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has said that his administration will “insist” that its Western allies take further “bold steps” to support Kiev Read Full Article at RT.com

The last Lebanese power plant has run out of fuel, plunging the country into darkness Read Full Article at RT.com

One of the M270 MLRS systems provided to Kiev by its Western sponsors was destroyed in the Sumy region of Ukraine Read Full Article at RT.com