The turtle awareness workshop for communities was held in Solevu village from the 23rd-25th June. The workshop which was facilitated by MES was filled with presentations from various other organizations including the Institute of Marine Resources—USP, WWF, Conservation International and the Departments of Environment, Fisheries, Forests, and Fiji Islands Maritime Safety Administration (FIMSA).

The workshop was attended by the members of the villages Solevu, Tavua, Yanuya and Viseisei and also staff from our member resorts. It was a very enjoyable workshop and the participants were quite pleased with the information that was being disseminated by the different government departments and non-governmental organizations. The main objectives of the workshop were to educate the villages on the life of a sea turtle, the importance of their species in the circle of life, ways to contribute to their protection and the laws in Fiji that govern their protection. Having fulfilled all the objectives of the workshop we can say that it was a very successful one and we look forward to working with our communities in future in the fight to save our sea turtles.

We would like to thank all those who contributed towards the workshop especially to those government departments and organizations who conducted presentations. Special thanks goes to South Sea Cruises for transferring the participants to Solevu village and to our hosts Solevu village for providing the village hall where the workshop was conducted and also for providing the participants with meals and accommodation throughout the three day workshop.