THE South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR) received an enthusiastic response to their call for underwater photographers. Some 80 entries flooded in with photographers from across South Africa sharing photos. Six photographs were selected, and these are currently on display along the new addition of the Durban Promenade near Point Beach.
The initiative was centred around World Turtle Day on May 23 – with the aim of inspiring the community to do their bit to conserve the ocean and its inhabitants, including endangered species like leatherback turtles. Executive manager for uShaka Sea World Maryke Musson said this is the first exhibition they have installed in Durban, although similar exhibitions have been installed in Cape Town along the Sea Point Promenade.
“We created a competition because we wanted to open it up for anyone in South Africa to send us a beautiful image of a sea turtle in the ocean. We had 80 submissions. It was really difficult to select – we had a judging panel who put forward their favourites, and we ended up with our six images, each with its own story. This adds quite a bit of information for people to learn about sea turtles and the work being done by organisations like ours,” said Musson.
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She highlighted the KZN Marine Stranding Network, National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) which assists SAAMBR, and Ezemvelo Wildlife, which currently manages the Sea Turtle Monitoring Programme.
Celebrating 60 years of conservation
“This year, we are celebrating 60 years of sea turtle monitoring and conservation in South Africa. All of this really takes place in Northern Natal in the nesting sites. We have the leatherbacks as well as the loggerhead sea turtles nesting along our coastline. In 1963, the then Natal Parks Board [Ezemvelo Wildlife today] with the support of our division, Oceanographic Research Institute, started a monitoring, research and protection programme which has been really successful,” said Musson.
Musson added that this is the longest monitoring programme in the world for leatherback turtles and one of the longest for loggerhead turtles.
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“This is significant for South Africa, and it really contributed to the protection of the species as the nesting site, nesting females and hatchlings were protected. The numbers have gone up. In the early 1960s, there were a couple of hundred loggerhead-turtle nesting females, and now, there are over a thousand. The same is true of the leatherbacks turtles – there were only six nesting females in the early 1960s, and now, there are between 60 and 80 – so still very little – a lot more can be done. They are an endangered species. I really love that as South Africans we can celebrate the fact that we are really caring about the species,” she added.
And this is what the promenade exhibit aims to achieve – inspire more love for turtles.
“Hopefully, it will inspire people to be a lot more mindful when it comes to litter, waste and our impact on the world and on the ocean – which covers 70% of our planet. The ocean is home to so many beautiful creatures, such as sea turtles,” concluded Musson.
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