Turtle Foundation

September Update from Boa Vista! 🐢

September marked another important month of the sea turtle nesting season on Boa Vista. With the peak nesting months behind us, nesting activity has now slowed down as the season gradually comes to an end.

Since the start of the season, our patrol teams have recorded 10,193 turtle nests across the beaches we protect. These are the cumulative numbers for the season so far, with every new nest adding to the total.

While fewer turtles are now coming ashore to nest, the beaches are still full of activity. Hatchlings continue to emerge from their nests and make their way towards the ocean, while our teams remain on the beaches to patrol, monitor and protect them.

The season isn’t over just yet, and our teams will continue their work throughout these final weeks. 🐢

During the off-season from June to August, our teams on Nias and Sipora Islands, Sumatra, Indonesia continued their work to protect sea turtles and their habitats. 🐢

Across both project sites, five beach clean-ups brought together 166 participants, who helped remove around 513 kg of rubbish from important sea turtle nesting beaches.

At the same time, our teams carried out five environmental education activities, reaching 199 children, young people and community members.

Through interactive sessions, participants learned more about sea turtles, their habitats and life cycles, marine pollution, and the threats sea turtle populations face. These activities help to strengthen awareness and engagement within local communities.

A big thank you to EOCA European Outdoor Conservation Association for supporting this work and making these activities possible.

Good news for sea turtles in Indonesia: We won the Planet Hero Award! 🐢

Yesterday, we had the honor of receiving the jury prize of the Planet Hero Award in the Biodiversity category for our sea turtle conservation program in Berau, Indonesia.

Our CEO and Programme Director Dr Hiltrud Cordes and our Fundraising Officer Katja Weisheit had the pleasure of attending the award ceremony in Cologne and accepting the award on behalf of the entire Turtle Foundation team and everyone who contributes to our work in Berau.

A huge thank you to Zurich Insurance and the Planet Hero Award jury for this recognition and for supporting projects dedicated to protecting our planet.

The prize money will directly support our conservation work in the Derawan Archipelago and help us continue protecting green and critically endangered hawksbill turtles and their nesting habitats. For more than 25 years, our locally trained rangers have been patrolling the nesting islands year-round, monitoring nesting activity and protecting nests from poaching. Our work also includes environmental education, digital data collection and close collaboration with local communities and authorities.

A very special thank you goes to our sister organization Yayasan Penyu and the entire team in Indonesia. We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved together and are grateful for their commitment to protecting sea turtles in Berau.

We were also very happy to be part of an event with so many inspiring projects and people dedicated to protecting our planet. Congratulations to the other winners and everyone involved!

Want to watch the full award ceremony? Zurich has shared a recording of the event – you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/live/rnEzzDjWPcQ

📷Photo credit: Zurich Planet Hero Stiftung

An early surprise from Nias!🐢

On 19 September, the first leatherback turtle nest of the season was discovered at Moale Beach on Nias Island, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Based on the tracks left in the sand, we estimate that the nest had been laid two to three days earlier.

The discovery came earlier than expected: regular beach patrols have not even started yet, as the nesting season usually begins in October.

A special first sign of the season ahead and hopefully the first of many leatherback nests to come!

We’re excited to see what the upcoming nesting season will bring.

Leatherback turtle - sea turtle conservation - turtle monitoring - beach patrols - endangered species

Over the past days, many of you will have seen the deeply disturbing footage from Raja Ampat, Indonesia, showing the killing of a critically endangered hawksbill turtle.

The incident has reached people far beyond Indonesia, particularly within the diving and conservation community. We share this concern and strongly condemn the deliberate killing of protected sea turtles for meat consumption. We therefore appreciate that the relevant organisations and authorities have already taken action in response.

But as shocking as this case is, it is important to remember that it is not an isolated incident.

Sea turtles continue to be illegally hunted and killed around the world, and Indonesia is no exception. What makes the current case different is that there is video footage. Most turtles that are poached disappear without a camera recording what happened to them, without thousands of people watching, and without their story reaching the international community.

For us at Turtle Foundation, this case is a painful reminder of why our work remains so important. It requires continuous protection, monitoring, education and cooperation with local communities and authorities.

Every sea turtle matters, whether the world witnesses what happens to it or not.
Let’s continue to speak up and take action for all wildlife, including those whose stories remain unseen.

📷 © Manfred Muchenberger

Today is World Cleanup Day!

For sea turtles, clean beaches are essential. 🐢

Waste and debris can block nesting females from finding suitable nesting sites or make it harder for them to dig their nests. And once the hatchlings emerge, rubbish on the beach can become a dangerous obstacle: they can get trapped or entangled on their way to the ocean.

That’s why keeping sea turtle habitats clean is also part of protecting them.

Across our project sites in Indonesia and on Boa Vista, Cabo Verde, our teams regularly organise beach cleanups to collect waste from nesting beaches and surrounding areas. Not just on World Cleanup Day, but throughout the year.

Today, we want to say a big thank you to our teams, volunteers and local communities – and to everyone around the world helping to keep our beaches and oceans clean.

Every piece of waste removed helps.

Our Annual Report 2025 is here!🐢

2025 was a special year for Turtle Foundation: we celebrated our 25th anniversary and looked back on a quarter of a century dedicated to protecting sea turtles and their habitats.

Our new Annual Report takes you through the past year, from our conservation work in Indonesia and Cabo Verde to the achievements, developments and challenges that shaped 2025.

Swipe through to discover some of the numbers behind our work and the impact we have achieved together over the years.

📖 Read the full Annual Report 2025 via the link in our bio or visit our website.

A big thank you to our teams Fundação Tartaruga & Yayasan Penyu Indonesia - YPI, partners, supporters and everyone who made this work possible. Together, we will continue working towards a future where sea turtles and their habitats are sustainably protected.

📷 Slide 1 & 2: kogia.org

August Update from Boa Vista! 🐢

August was a busy month for our sea turtle patrol teams! With nesting season in full swing, we’ve recorded 6968 nests across our beaches so far.

And there’s even more exciting news: during the last week of August, the first hatchlings of the season emerged!

After months of protecting the nests and monitoring the beaches, seeing those tiny turtles make their way towards the ocean is an incredible reminder of why our work matters.

The season is far from over — we’ll keep patrolling, protecting and counting.