Sicily, Italy: Loggerhead turtles return to the beaches where they were born — but not every nest is safe. In this episode, "Every Nest Matters" marine biologist Dr. Manjula Tiwari and WWF Italy face two very different challenges in a single day: protecting a nest laid in the middle of a tourist beach, and relocating another that risks being lost to the tide. The conservation team must act fast to protect both nests. Join Dr. Manjula Tiwari and the team from WWF Italia as they work to safeguard loggerhead turtle eggs on the very shores where the mothers themselves once hatched decades earlier.

Inspiring success of a new conservation project by Fauna and Flora Myanmar Sea Turtle Conservation Project, with support from us at Ocean Ecology Network, that turned local community attitudes from hunting, eating, and selling turtles or their eggs into protecting nesting turtles.

KYAR KAN, MYANMAR — Not long ago, sea turtles that crawled ashore on Myanmar’s Mawtin Coast risked ending up on a dinner plate, and their eggs at the market. Today, the same community stands guard over them. Through the Fauna & Flora Myanmar Sea Turtle Conservation Project, supported by Ocean Ecology Network, the people of Kyar Kan have gone from hunting turtles and harvesting their eggs to protecting every nest on their shore and helping scientists collect data.

But the turtles aren’t the only things that return to these beaches each year.

So does trash.

In September, 30 community members and students went to work, readying the beach for the sea turtle nesting season, which begins in November. Bag by bag, they cleared 2 km of nesting beach and hauled away 90 kg of waste in a single cleanup: plastic bags, plastic bottles and tangles of discarded fishing gear. That debris can block a nesting turtle or trap a hatchling, and it sickens and kills marine life far beyond the beach.

It’s a job that never really ends.

Kyar Kan is a Community-Led Sea Turtle Conservation Zone, and its beaches are cleaned year-round, removing around 1.5 tonnes of waste every year. The effort intensifies in the nesting season, from November to May, when every meter of clean beach counts.

Turtles belong here. Trash doesn’t.

Credits

This video was produced by Ocean Ecology Network, which provides scientific and technical support to Fauna & Flora and the Kyar Kan community, along with video production and filming training for field teams.

Conceived, written & edited: John Dutton (John Dutton Productions).

Camera: Salai Mon Nyi Nyi Lin, Project Officer (Marine), Fauna & Flora – Myanmar Programme.

In partnership with Fauna & Flora and the Kyar Kan community.