All species of turtles are endangered with the main threats to their survival from human activities such as hunting, egg poaching, marine litter and some fishing methods. Less than 1% of hatchlings survive to adulthood, and still little is known about the early life history and movements of sea turtles.

Green sea turtles nest on our islands in the Maldives (Vabbinfaru, Ihuru and Velavaru). We have run the longest private headstart program in the Maldives since 2001. This program cares for a small number of hatchlings for the first few years of life, increasing their survival and closely monitoring their health and development until they are big enough for release.

Prior to release, all the turtles are tagged with titanium flipper tags so they can be readily identified in the future. In addition to this, a small number of turtles have been fitted with a satellite transmitter and using the Argos satellite system, we were able to collect data on their movements for up to 8 months. Such data provides valuable information on the life history and movements post-release from the Head-start program.