Introduction to Project Orion II

Project Orion II - Rovering with Turtles
is the 4th Scouts of the World Award (SWA) Voluntary Service Project of the SWA Singapore Base.

The 2nd installment of this project will be led by 9 youths from Singapore and they will return to Setiu, Terengganu, where the pioneer team had left their legacy a year ago.

The primary aim of the team would be the conservation of sea turtles, but that would not be their only contribution during the project duration of 26th June to 10th July. The 9 passionate youths will also be involved in mangrove replanting, repair work for the villagers and WWF info centre and English and conservation awareness education for the children.


"Leave the place a little better than you first found it." - Lord Baden Powell

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Gulf Coast turtle hatchlings released on Florida's east coast

Playalinda Beach, Titusville, Florida (CNN) -- One-day-old loggerhead turtles were set free adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center overnight, scurrying down a beach in the cover of darkness to begin their lives.

The baby turtles were hatched at a space center facility after being transferred from the beaches in the Florida Panhandle and Alabama.

Biologists believed 700 to 800 turtle nests were in jeopardy of perishing, with BP's oil lurking offshore.

"We would have 100 percent mortality if the hatchlings were not able to be translocated," said Jeff Trandahl of the Fish and Wildlife Foundation. "We are looking at relocating 70,000 to 80,000 turtle eggs."

Biologists have begun digging up nests and shipping them, courtesy of FedEx, to a large facility at the space center. So far, 13,000 eggs have arrived, and 2,600 hatchlings have been released.

The eggs are faring better than those in nature, project manager Jane Provancha said. More than 80 percent of the hatchlings have hatched.

Tom Strickland, assistant interior secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, witnessed the removal of the eggs and the release of the turtles.

"Out of all the tragedies and the difficulty of the oil spill, there are great stories," Strickland said.

Biologists will continue to remove, ship and release the baby turtles during the turtle season that runs through September.

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