Spring 2016, Issue 4

On Wednesday August 6th staff from the British

High Commission (BHC) visited the home of

the GVI Marine Conservation Expedition at Cap

Ternay for their annual team-building day. GVI

Seychelles staff and volunteers welcomed the

team from the BHC for a day full of activities.

The morning started with a beach and mangrove

clean-up to remove any rubbish that had

accumulated along the shoreline. Within the

mangroves at Anse Souillac numerous plastic

bags, empty bottles and confectionary wrappers

were removed from the mangrove roots, having

been brought in by the tide before becoming

snagged. With the mangroves clean, attention

was turned to the beach at the Baie Ternay

Marine Park. At this time of year the waters

within the bay are calm, meaning little rubbish

washes up on the shoreline. We did not have to

search for long however, as the vegetation near

the beach was littered with the remnants of

weekend picnics. In total we managed to fill

nine large bin bags full of rubbish; a successful

mornings work!

After the early morning clean-up, it was time to

for a game of Kubb a Swedish game involving

the throwing of sticks, followed by a delicious

barbecue.

With full stomachs the afternoon saw the group

split into two, and ready to burn off some

calories. The first group headed up Cap

Matoopa to take in the amazing views from the

summit, while the others ventured out for a

snorkel.

It was a tiring but terrific day and the GVI

Seychelles staff and volunteers really enjoyed

getting to know the team from the BHC.

Inside this Issue

BHC Team Building Day

Island School Seychelles

Lemon Shark Project

Green Turtles

Gymnodoris ceylonica

Charitable Trust

National Scholarship Programme

Seychelles Sea Turtle Festival

GVI Seychelles September 2014, Issue 4

BHC Team building Day

The last three months seem to have flown by as

we have crammed in numerous activities and

initiatives alongside our normal programmes.

On Curieuse Island it has been a quarter

dominated by green turtles and Coco de Mer,

while at Cap Ternay, having completed the first

six months of coral reef monitoring, we are well

underway with recording coral recruitment.

Once again we have been busy raising funds for

the Charitable Trust and we are looking forward

to some exciting new developments in the final

quarter of the year.

As ever we hope you enjoy reading the

newsletter and we welcome your feedback.

Introduction

The team with bags of rubbish collected from

the beach and mangroves that morning.

1

Island school Seychelles

Every morning was full of laughter and screaming; the kind that comes

from a bunch of kids full of energy as they run around outside. It

wasn't just another school day for them, even if they were going to

spend half the day in a classroom. For them, it was a week of games,

lessons, and oceanic adventures that just happened to also have some

time in front of the blackboard.

Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) operates marine conservation and

education programmes across the globe, and has become a

recognizable organization in this area. Here in Seychelles SOSF have a

marine education project, and for the past two weeks GVI has been

hosting the Island School Seychelles programme with two consecutive

one-week Marine Education schools for winning students from around

Mahe and neighboring islands. Secondary school kids submitted

applications in which they had to talk about what the ocean meant to

them and in the end a lucky handful were chosen to spend the week at

Cap Ternay. Abi March, the SOSF Project Leader here in Seychelles,

was as energetic as the kids as they were learning about coral reefs,

seagrass beds, whale sharks, and everything in between. Even their

"exams" were fun; we heard them running back and forth between the

true tree and false tree as various facts were shouted out for them to

verify.

GVI was more than just a classroom space during these two weeks; a

handful of our volunteers took to the ocean as the students snorkelled

out to explore the seagrass beds and reefs of our very own Baie

Ternay. Many had never been snorkeling or even swimming before

but even on the first day as three of us helped them float out in waist-

deep water with life jackets tight in their hands ahead of them, they

were kicking away eagerly as if they had been swimming for years.

It only took a few minutes for them to adapt to the idea of having their

face in the water and to find the momentum that comes with fins. Our

volunteers came back exhausted but happy, still in disbelief that kids

growing up steps from the water would never have learned to swim or

seen a coral reef before.

These projects by SOSF go hand-in-hand with our own conservation

education goals and activities, and so we were more than happy to share

our facilities and support the project. By the end of each week, the

students were tired but still smiling, asking what our favorite marine

animals were and excitedly expressing their own favorites. With a little

luck they will all be back in the water soon!

Lemon shark tagging project

GVI Seychelles and Seychelles National Parks Authority (SNPA), with the

support of the British High Commission, will be commencing a new

lemon shark tagging project on Curieuse Island this year.

The mangroves on Curieuse Island are an important nursery ground for

lemon sharks (Negaprion acutidens), providing juvenile sharks with plenty

of food and a safe environment away from predators.

Over the coming months GVI Seychelles and SNPA will be initiating a

tagging programme to obtain important data on the local lemon shark

population. The research project will be accompanied by an educational

programme to sensitize the public to the value of mangrove habitats and

the important role of sharks in the marine environment.

Find out how the project is proceeding in the next issue of the GVI

Seychelles Newsletter.

3

2

A good year for the green turtles of curieuse island

The end of June 2014 kicked off the first of many green turtle nesting

activities on Curieuse. The GVI volunteers may have thought they were

just going on a bird survey at Grand Anse that early June morning, but

when the green turtle nest was found, they also ended up learning the

whole process of sea turtle nesting from an overly excited staff member.

In the following month of July, green turtles continued to surprise the

GVI team. Five more nests were found along with three other

unsuccessful nesting attempts. August continued the excitement with

four more nests and 16 more unsuccessful nesting attempts counted

throughout the month. The trend continued into September and since

June, Curieuse has seen a record of 13 green turtle nests and over 20

failed attempts.

Not only has the past three months surpassed the nesting activities by

green turtles on Curieuse in previous seasons, but we are hoping to see

more nesting attempts in the upcoming months. As the hawksbill nesting

season begins we will be stepping up our monitoring programme and

increasing our visits to the turtle nesting beaches. We will also be on the

lookout for hatched green turtle nests in order to evaluate reproductive

success. Any information collected will help to better understand this

species that we know so little about.

The hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) nesting season is

undoubtedly an exciting time in Seychelles. Seychelles hosts one of the

largest hawksbill nesting populations in the West Indian Ocean and

numerous legal steps have been taken to protect these animals.

Protected areas especially are seeing numbers rebound after dramatic

declines from over-hunting for their shells.

Although also protected, much less is known about the nesting green

turtles (Chelonia mydas) within the inner islands. Green turtles have been

heavily exploited in Seychelles, and worldwide, for their meat. The

inner islands of the Seychelles saw large declines in the green turtle

population in the late 1700s correlating with increases in the human

population. Although large numbers of green turtles still nest on

Aldabra, very few green nests are found in the inner islands.

Curieuse Island has been an important nesting site for hawksbills and

also hosts the occasional green turtle nest each year. In the 2011-2012

nesting season, eight green turtle nests were recorded, while the next

season (2013-2014) had only four nests. However, Curieuse is no

ordinary island. We are constantly reminded that we still have a lot to

learn about the flora and fauna of the island.

From 2012-2014 we have seen green turtle activity on the beach in the

months of June, August, November, December and January. In the

2012-2013 season, the majority of green turtle activities were seen in

January, while the majority of activities for the 2013-2014 season were

in November. Unlike their Hawksbill cousins, the green turtles of

Seychelles prove to be quite difficult to predict. Green turtle tracks on Grande Anse, Curieuse Island

GVI Charitable Trust

It has been another busy quarter for the GVI Seychelles Chritable Trust.

Our most recent Charitable Trust event took place in August, and again

was another play on a well-known game. The Curieuse Crystal Maze was

our very own version of the popular 90s British TV Show set across the

island. Teams competed with one another in various tasks (Mental,

Physical or Skill) at differing locations around the island with the aim to

complete the challenge and win Curieuse Crystals. Each Curieuse

Crystal would buy the team 5 seconds in The Curieuse Tent to collect

as many tokens as possible, ultimately leading us to an overall winner.

Some of the challenges included: Human/coconut pyramid, blindfolded

obstacle course, star-jumps while explaining our tortoise survey

methodology, and memory testing games. The three teams (Sharks, Birds

and Turtles) were all excellently dressed up/painted and the Curieuse

Tent finale was hilarious fun! In the end, the Bird team won (along with

some great Luxury items), and again the whole team was able to

fundraise over $1000 for the Seychelles Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA).

Meanwhile at Cap Ternay, volunteers completed an Underwater

scavenger hunt. Hidden underwater were (ocean-friendly) clues for the

teams to find; some buddy teams planned routes based on their knowledge

and familiarity of our home reefs while others plunged in with fingers

crossed and eyes wide open. All teams came up victorious, though of

course some more than others! Each clue provided the team with a task

valued between 10 and 100 points, giving them another day and a half to

pull together to complete the challenge and make it to the finish line by

5:00 pm on Thursday. BBQ night was entertaining for all as an ode to the

Coco de Mer was prepared (we never got the full presentation!) while

another team geared up in palm-leaf costumes for 50 points each. Tasks

then ranged from a handstand on L'Islette to a marathon snorkel from Cap

Ternay beach to Anse Souillac, while others sent the group down to

the very south of the island to Police Bay or required a dancing

rendition of the Thriller on another beach (on film). Not all tasks

were completed, but the following evening we all gathered at Anse

Royale for a meal and point tally along with a laugh at the various

videos and photos that had been accumulated during the day. A prize

for the individual who had raised the most and for the team with the

most points was a little bonus, but the real perk of the day had been

an excuse to hang out in a new group and celebrate raising over 300

for the President's Village.

The challenges continue to be a source of fun, a great opportunity for

team building and help us improve community awareness regarding

the work of SSPCA and the Presidents Village Childrens Home. The

donations from family and friends of volunteers and staff, have been

amazing and we would like to thank you all for your continued

support. Please keep an eye out for our next Charitable Trust event

in a few months as we aim to continue supporting the great work of

our chosen organisations and fundraise even more than before!

Anyone wishing to make a donation towards either of these causes

can do so at:

https://www.justgiving.com/presidents-village/

https://www.justgiving.com/help-animals-in-seychelles/

The GVI Charitable Trust was formed in 2005 to provide disaster

relief to communities in Guatemala following the devastation caused

by Hurricane Stan. The Charitable Trust is a non-political, non-

religious charity that has grown to support projects in over 20

countries.

The Cap Ternay volunteers following their scavenger hunt.

5

Gymnodoris ceylonica Seasonal Variation in Population Numbers

Found throughout the Indopacific, Gymnodoris ceylonica is known to

undergo population explosions, forming mass mating aggregations within

localized areas. In Seychelles, for six months of the year large numbers of

G. ceylonica can be found within the shallow seagrass beds of the Baie

Ternay Marine National Park, on the northwestern coast of Mah Island.

Population numbers peak in the months of August and September and

coincide with a seasonal drop in sea temperature.

Baie Ternay located on the northwestern coast of Mah Island in the

Seychelles, covers 25 hectares, comprising of beaches, rocky shoreline,

sand-flats, seagrass beds, and coral reef. The area of Thalassia hemprichii in

the centre of the bay experiences seasonal population explosions of the

dorid nudibranch, G.ceylonica, entirely absent at other times of the year.

The precise reason for the appearance and subsequent disappearance of

G.ceylonica at particular times of the year is currently unknown. G.ceylonica

first appears in July when sea temperatures drop to below 27C, and then

disappears in December when sea temperatures rise again. Within

Seychelles, the months of July and August experience the coldest water

temperatures, usually around 26C, and this coincides with the greatest

number of G.ceylonica observations.

Each year, immediately prior to the appearance of G.ceylonica, numerous

egg strings of the sea hare Stylocheilus longicauda become visible on the

blades of T. hemprichii. As Stylocheilus longicauda is a preferred food source

of G.ceylonica, it is possible that triggered by the drop in temperature,

prey-induced settlement is a causative agent of the mass aggregation.

During the period from July to December both mating and feeding

behavior in G.ceylonica can be commonly observed. While an abundance

of food can cause species to grow quickly leading to a population

explosion, the presence of a significant number of adult Dorids in a

relatively small area can subsequently lead to a mating aggregation.

The absence of G.ceylonica outside of the seagrass beds in Baie Ternay

indicates that planktonic larvae of this species may have settled directly

onto the seagrass rather than migrating from deeper locations.

It is interesting to note that Gymnodoris citrina was also observed each year

at the same time as G.ceylonica, although in much lower densities.

G.citrina is known to feed on opisthobranch eggs including those of

G.ceylonica.

The sudden mass aggregation of G.ceylonica, the trophic ecology of

S.longicauda and their relationships with physical parameters such as sea

water temperature remain poorly understood, and further studies of the

life history of G.ceylonica are required to better understand the

relationships and processes at work.

A pair of G.ceylonica mating (top). Gymnodoris citrina feeding on

the egg string of G.ceylonica (above).

GVI SEYCHELLES September 2014, ISSUE 4

National scholarship programme

As one of GVI Seychelles national scholars I felt privileged to have had the

chance to undergo training and become involved in the research that GVI

conducts. The National Scholarship Programme has given me the

opportunity to make my lifes long dream come true.

I am currently studying Environmental Science at the University of

Seychelles and joined the GVI Cap Ternay expeditions as part of my

undergraduate degree Work Based Experience scheme. I am proud to say

that I am now a certified PADI Advanced Open Water diver and Coral

Reef research speciality certified diver.

I have been trained by one of the most skillful and passionate dive

instructors, Ms Olivia Moudy. The diving certification will be useful in

my line of work as fisheries technician. Participating in the surveys has

given me first hand field experience, and the many lectures organized by

GVI has been enlightening, emphasizing on the need for conservation and

how it is essential to have updated baseline data.

I will be forever grateful to the GVI staff for the wonderful experience, a

once in a lifetime experience, and to this note I would urge other

Seychellois of different walks of life to join the programme as scholars.

We need our oceans and reefs. I came to realize that as an island nation,

our survival depends partly if not entirely on the sustainability of our

oceans and reefs.

The National Scholarship Programme is free to any Seychellois aged 18

years or over with a background/interest in marine or terrestrial

conservation and enables individuals to gain valuable practical experience

in marine/terrestrial research monitoring techniques. Chosen candidates

join a team of international staff and volunteers on either our marine or

terrestrial expedition and participate in the day to day running of the base

while learning about conservation here in Seychelles.

GVI runs NSP programmes in over 20 countries worldwide to enable

and fund local nationals to participate in our programmes and receive all

relevant training. When receiving applications for NSP programmes we

are looking for candidates who can demonstrate a real interest in the

relevant training opportunities of the programme and those that can

explain how this opportunity will enrich their current interests and

future pursuits. As an organization we hope to be able to use our

resources to enrich local capacities and provide unique opportunities for

local youths.

GVI Seychelles scholarships include:

4 weeks on project site (minimum) Food and shared accommodation while on project base PADI Advanced Open Water training and certification

(marine only) PADI Coral Reef Research Diver Speciality Certification

(marine only) Species identification and survey methodology training Emergency First Responder Training Personal Mentor

To apply for GVI Seychelles Marine Conservation or Island

Conservation Scholarship please send a CV, a statement of interest and a

reference to seychelles@gviworld.com

This quarter we were pleased to have received two candidates as part of

the GVI National Scholarship Programme. Sheril De Commarmand and

Andrew Souffre.

Sheril De Commarmand completed a course in Fisheries Science and

Technology at the Maritime Training Centre before joining the Seychelles

Islands Foundation (SIF) as a trainee ranger on Aldabra in 2013. Sheril

joined the GVI Seychelles Marine Expedition to brush up on her diving and

improve her fish monitoring skills before returning to Aldabra. She leaves

us having gained her PADI Advanced Open Water and Coral Reef

Research Diver certifications, alongside her Emergency First Responder

qualification.

Andrew Souffre is currently studying Environmental Science at the

University of Seychelles. Andrew joined us as part of UniSeys work based

experience scheme and here he provides us with a brief overview of his

time spent at Cap Ternay.

7

GVI Seychelles and SNPA teamed up for this years Seychelles Sea

Turtle Festival, which was once again held in Beau Vallon along the

Golden Mile.

Now in its second year, the Seychelles Sea Turtle Festival looks to

celebrate the Seychelles marine turtle population and promote

awareness of issues surrounding turtle conservation. The Ministry of

Environment and Energy, and the Ministry of Education once again

supported the event, which could not have taken place without the

generous backing of the Environment Trust Fund.

On August 9th GVI Seychelles was joined by numerous other

organisations and government departments for the Family Fun Day. It

was an opportunity to promote the turtle research GVI and SNPA are

undertaking and to sensitise the public on turtle related issues.

The GVI/SNPA stand contained information on our hawksbill nesting

monitoring progrmame, as well as information on the in-water turtle

behavioural studies. GVI staff and volunteers set up a snorkel stand to

take willing participants out into Beau Vallon bay to search for turtles

and other marine life.

Follow GVI Seychelles

Website - www.gvi.co.uk

Charitable Trust website - www.gvi.org

Facebook -

https://www.facebook.com/GVISeychellesMaheCurieuse

Twitter - https://twitter.com/GVISeychelles

Instagram - #GVITRAVEL

Seychelles sea turtle festival

For the younger kids (and some of the not so young), the GVI Face

painting stand was a huge hit.

Highlights of the day included the kite flying competition, with some

amazing turtle shaped kites taking to the sky above the beach, and the

sandcastle competition, which produced some incredible sculptures

despite the best efforts of the advancing tide.

For the GVI staff and volunteers it was an opportunity to meet

members of other organisations working in turtle conservation, and to

receive a better understanding of the different types of research that are

taking place within Seychelles.

It was fantastic to see the event so well backed by the conservation

community. For the first time, virtually every local organization with an

interest in turtle conservation had come together to support a common

cause. The public reaction was amazing, particularly from the younger

generation, and provides hope for the future of Seychelles sea turtle

population.

GVI Seychelles is already looking forward to next years event!

GVI Seychelles staff receiving some body art at the Family Fun Day in Beau Vallon.