Navy’s passion for turtle conservation pays rich dividends; turtle hatchlings emerge from conservation site at Galle Face beach

Starting a new chapter in the Sri Lanka Navy's turtle conservation project, a bale of sea turtle hatchlings emerged from the turtle conservation site at the Galle Face on 05^th February 2020. This site was conserved by the Navy following turtle eggs were found from the area.

Going by the ‘Green and Blue’ initiative mooted by Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Piyal De Silva cleaning of Galle Face beach commenced with a renewed vigour and the Navy has been able to clean-up the beach area by removing plastic, polythene and other waste collected on the beach over a long period of time. As a result of the Navy’s effort, the beach area turned into a pleasant destination for both local and foreign tourists.

As an eloquent testimony to the success of beach cleaning programmes conducted as part of the ‘Green and Blue’ project, several sea turtle eggs have been found at the Galle Face beach a couple of weeks ago. Since this has been a rare sight at the Galle Face beach in the densely populated city, the naval personnel promptly encircled the area, giving the eggs a protected hatchling ground, under the directives of Commander of the Navy. After the incubation period, the hatchlings broke open the shell and emerged today. Accordingly, 83 of them were released into the ocean by Commander of the Navy at the Galle Face this evening. Apart from that, over 300 sea turtle eggs have already been conserved in this beach area with the intention of releasing more turtle hatchlings into the ocean

Meanwhile, the Navy has been running turtle conservation projects at Panama, Mirissa and Wellawatta areas and naval personnel involved in these projects make sure of the careful execution of the entire process, from the conservation of sea turtle eggs to the release of turtle hatchlings into the ocean.