Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC)

Sea Turtle Conservation :

COBEC has two programmes relating to sea turtle conservation. One is a bycatch release programme where volunteers will work with community turtle attendants to collect turtles accidentally caught by fishermen and release them back to the sea. This activity depends on the fishing season. It is not a guarantee to catch turtles. Before releasing them, data recording takes place i.e. taking measurements for research purposes. This data is later computed and then analyzed for reporting purposes.

The other activity is the beach patrol, nesting mapping and monitoring. This activity takes place in Marereni project site. Volunteers will be patrolling the beach to find out any nesting turtles. They will be expected to fill a nesting information form any time a nest is identified. Monitoring will continue until hatchlings come out.

Ecological surveys/snorkeling/Diving
Research and data collection is done on the new identified site for the establishment of a Marine Protected Area in Marereni. It is done during day time and those participating should have knowledge of swimming, snorkeling and diving.

Education and awareness
COBEC conducts awareness to schools and to the community. Volunteers will be put on a programme to visit and give lectures/presentation on environmental conservation. Volunteers will thus help in the development of education materials especially for school children i.e. primary and secondary schools. They will also be involved in organizing out door activities with the children so as to foster quick learning and making the programme attractive to students. COBEC also conducts awareness presentation for the public.

Website and social media development and marketing
Volunteers who are good in content development and have hands-on know how in IT, will be charged with the responsibility of working on COBEC social media handles and enhance the website.

Fundraising for COBEC Programmes
Each volunteer will be tasked to fundraise for the programme they wish before their volunteering period ends. Fundraising can be through proposal development or developing sponsorship activities or any initiative that would raise funds.

Community Ecotourism Programme
Volunteers will closely work with the local community to develop and add-value to the existing ecotourism facilities within MCCC and Marereni BMU. Some of the activities that volunteers will work in-on include:

Crab farming
Together with the community in-charge, volunteers with expertise in this area and those learning will be involved in crab cage construction, crab stocking, feeding, monitoring and harvesting. In all these

Capacity Building Trainings
As COBEC works with different community groups, depending on volunteers’ knowledge, training programmes will be organized ranging from financial record keeping, computer training, tour guiding skills etc.