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2021-12-31-accounts

The Olive Ridley Project

Annual Report and Financial Statements Year ending: 31[st] December 2021

Charity no: 1165905

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Legal and Administrative Information

Trustees Prof. Mike Sweet Prof. Mike Sweet Prof. Mike Sweet
Jannicke C Hallum
Matt Shoulders, Treasurer (until December 2021; replaced by Lee Cannan)
Cliona Kirby (from May 2021)
Amanda Costain (from July 2021)
Chief Executive / Founder Dr Martin Stelfox
Senior Project Scientist Dr Jillian Hudgins (until June 2021)
Senior Project Scientist Dr Stephanie Kohnk (from June 2021)
Scientific Advisors Dr Jillian Hudgins (from June 2021)
Website and Media Manager Jannicke C Hallum
Lead Veterinary Surgeon Dr Claire Petros
Graphic Designer Susie Gibson
Veterinary Surgeon Dr Amelia Liddell
Researcher - Spatial Ecology Rushan Bin Abdul Rahman
Researcher - GIS Ecology Jane Lloyd
Communications Officer Rosie Brown (From June 2021)
Sea Turtle Biologists/Guest Educators
Maldives Jo Goodfellow (Until Feb 2021)
Isha Afeef (From Feb 2021)
Rosie Brown (Until May 2021)
Joe Rigby (From May 2021)
Emily Mundy
Olivia Forster (From December 2021)
Moosa Mohamed (From December 2021)
Seychelles Lara Kalisch (From December 2021)
Kenya
Project Manager Dr Joana Hancock
Project Coordinator Leah Mainye
Project/Field Coordinators
Maldives Ibrahim Shameel
Risha Ali Rasheed
Pakistan Usman Iqbal
Asif Baloch
Ambassadors Matt Sorum
Andy Torbet
Registered Office 28 Stone Moor Bottom, Padiham, Burnley
Lancashire, BB12 7BW
Bank Lloyd’s Bank
8 Royal Parade
Plymouth, PL1 1HB
Independent Examiner Carly Spencer FCCA
Segrave & Partners LLP
Turnpike House
1208/1210 London Road
Leigh on Sea
Essex
SS9 2UA

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The Olive Ridley Project Trustees’ Report For the year ending 31[st] December 2021

Structure, governance and management

This Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) is regulated by its constitution whose only voting members are its trustees. The CIO was established by Dr. Martin Stelfox (CEO and founder) in 2013 and then became the CIO on the 7[th] March 2016.

New trustees are appointed by the existing trustees and serve for three years after which they may put themselves forward for re-appointment. The Charity provides for a minimum of 3 trustees, to a maximum of 7 trustees.

At the quarterly trustee meetings, the trustees agree on the broad strategy and areas of activity for the charity, including consideration of grant making, investment, reserves and risk management policies and performance. The day to day administration of grants and the processing and handling of applications prior to consideration by the trustee is delegated to the Chief Executive Officer.

The trustees formally approved arrangements complying with the CC30 guide ‘The recruitment, appointment and induction process for new charity trustees and how to set a framework for recruitment.’ and recruit new trustee(s) for their experience, empathy and knowledge of the charity and to keep the skills and composition of the trustee body and succession planning under review. The trustees have also developed a code of conduct for trustees including formal statements of role and responsibilities and provision for trustee training. New trustees may be sought by open advertisement or through peer to peer dialogue. The ultimate decision on selection is a matter for the trustees.

On appointment, new trustees sign a constitution committing them to giving of their time and expertise. The induction process includes an initial meeting with the trustees, followed by a series of short meetings with the Chief Executive Officer on day to day activities within the charity, current projects, grant making process and powers and responsibilities of the trustee board. The welcome pack includes a brief history of the charity, copy of the trustee board minutes, a copy of the constitution, 5-year plan and a copy of the Charity Commission’s guidance ‘The Essential Trustee: What You Need to Know’ and ‘Charities and Public Benefit’.

All trustees give their time freely and no trustee remuneration was paid in the year. Trustees are required to disclose all relevant interests in accordance with the charity policy and update all policies including, ‘Bullying and Harassment’, ‘Code of Conduct, ‘Conflicts of Interest’, ‘Equal Opportunities’, ‘Financial Management’, ‘Health & Safety’ and ‘Safeguarding Children and Young people’.

Objectives, Mission and Principal Activity

The Olive Ridley Project takes a multidimensional approach to protecting sea turtles and their habitat in the Indian Ocean. We do this through fostering cross-sectoral collaboration and cooperation, public education, research and rehabilitation. Our charitable purposes are as follows:

  1. To Promote for the benefit of the public the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment of the Indian Ocean in particular but not exclusively by:

  2. a) The removal of ghost gear from the marine environment reducing the negative effects on coastal communities and marine animals particularly the Olive Ridley sea turtle and

  3. b) By promoting the recycling of end of life fishing nets

  4. To advance the education of the public in the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment of the marine sea turtle but not exclusively the Olive Ridley sea turtle by provisions of talks, workshops, training and research.

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  1. To promote humane behaviour towards the Olive Ridley sea turtle by providing appropriate care, protection, treatment and security for animals which are in need of care and attention by reason of sickness, maltreatment, poor circumstances or ill usage and to educate the public in matters pertaining to animal welfare in general and the prevention of cruelty and suffering among animals.

  2. for the purpose of this clause, we define “ghost gear” as either abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear.

Public Benefit

All trustees follow the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit. By closely following this guideline we ensure the charity stays true to its purposes and focuses resources in direct relation to the charitable purposes.

We focus on building awareness and education surrounding sea turtle conservation in the Indian Ocean region, and in particular in Maldives, Oman, Kenya and Pakistan. We mainly focus on the negative impacts of marine plastics, such as ghost nets, on sensitive habitats and to coastal communities. We achieve this in the following ways:

  1. Conducting workshops, informal meetings and seminars with local communities, governments, schools and the public to remove and report ghost gear and promote sea turtle conservation;

  2. Hiring infield project coordinators that can disseminate our research findings and promote awareness to local communities;

  3. Teaching local fishing communities how to rework ghost gear into other products to generate an alternative income whilst protecting sensitive turtle habitats;

  4. Operating a Marine Turtle Rescue Centre and a Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Centre that allow Maldivian nationals and local schools to work alongside qualified professionals to increase personal development and awareness;

  5. Establishing relationships with research institutes to advance our research capacity and subsequently increase knowledge within the sea turtle scientific community;

  6. Building a citizen science project, specific to sea turtle and ghost net science, that allows people from all backgrounds to contribute to scientific research and develop personal skills;

  7. Offering paid internships to Maldivian nationals at the Marine Turtle Rescue Centre to build in-country capacity - there is currently no opportunity for veterinary training in Maldives;

  8. Providing open access resources such as educational videos and an e-learning platform on our website, with the addition of a Frequently Asked Turtle Questions page and educational blogs. This resource provides information on everything you need to know about sea turtles, including free publications such as our Sea Turtle Code of Conduct and Turtle Entanglement Protocol. Our protocols explain how to behave around foraging, nesting, and hatchling turtles, and what to do when finding an entangled sea turtle and are published in several languages. The aim of the publications is a) to reduce human disturbance, whether it be intentional or accidental, to sea turtles in all of their habitats while still allowing people to have an enjoyable wildlife encounter, and b) to increase the chances of survival for entangled sea turtles;

  9. Maintaining very active social media channels and engage with our followers through various messaging platforms;

  10. Working with a number of journalists from TV channels/programs, newspapers and magazines to further spread our message about sea turtle conservation; and

  11. Contributing to scientific journals to advance the scientific community knowledge on sea turtles and the threats they face.

Risk management

The Trustees have identified the major risks applicable to the charity and believe that appropriate action has been taken to manage and mitigate against these risks. Furthermore, the Trustees have assessed the major risks to which the Charity is exposed, in particular those relating to the operations, reputation and finance of the Olive Ridley Project. The CEO assesses and updates the likelihood and impact of material risks and ensures controls are in place, such as special risk assessments for general fieldwork and working at the rescue centre.

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Achievements and Performance 2021

This reporting period is running from January to December 2021 and captures our charitable activities across Maldives, Pakistan and Kenya. Unfortunately, our operations in Oman remained suspended due to Covid-19 restrictions for the whole year.

As we commit to expanding our operations to protect sea turtles and their habitats, we are excited to announce an expansion into the Seychelles in the last month of this year. This partnership builds on our relationship with Six Senses at their property Zil Pasyon on Félicité island. Our work will focus on local population distribution, abundance and health to minimise common threats in the area. In addition, we are excited to work with local and international partners to assist existing research efforts and hope to provide consistent data streams to these organisations. Reporting from the Seychelles will commence from 2022.

In 2021 we recorded a total of 66 sea turtle strandings in the Maldives, 79% (52) of these were olive ridleys. The number of olive ridley strandings drastically reduced when compared to previous years (2020 = 104, 2019 = 157, 2018 = 103, 2017 = 153, 2016 = 77, 2015 = 114 and 2014 = 78). This is likely due to a lack of reporting associated with the pandemic and unlikely a true indication of stranding rates in 2021. We managed to transfer 50% (33) of these strandings to our rehabilitation and rescue facilities and released twenty sea turtles back into the wild.

In the same period, we recorded a total of 454 new individual sea turtles in the Maldives (121 green turtles, 325 hawksbill turtles) and 127 new individuals in Kenya (116 green, 11 hawksbill).

Species richness wildly differs between the Maldives and Kenya. Kenya continues to be dominated by green turtles across all five monitoring sites. However, the Maldives is dominated by hawksbill turtles across 17 of the 19 atolls monitored. Interestingly, despite a higher proportion of recorded hawksbill turtles, very few nests are reported in the Maldives.

This year we were able to record sea turtle nesting activity in the Maldives from Noonu Atoll (31), Baa Atoll (2), Lhaviyani Atoll (29), North Malé (4) and Laamu Atoll (30). Average incubation period was 58 days, reflecting findings from our report in 2020. However, nesting success this year (71%) decreased when compared to our last reporting period (82%). We were able to record more nests this year and therefore suspect these figures represent a true representation of the success rate seen in the Maldives.

Operations in Pakistan were halted for much of 2020. However, in 2021 we were able to continue operations for much of the year. The team recovered 393 kg of ghost gear, predominantly in the form of monofilament gill nets. The community managed to raise 105,000 PKR ($600) in alternative income from this waste . Our dog leash sales were a little slow in 2021, however, we are planning a marketing campaign in 2022 to target both international and Pakistani communities.

Although the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over we are seeing parts of the word return to some level of normality. At the end of 2021 our volunteering and internship programs were in full swing as travel became less restricted. We continued to push the boundaries in science and conservation, published three novel research papers and presented at international conferences. We also assisted governments with data collection and report writing. We pride ourselves in our collaborative approach to conservation and continue to ensure collaboration remains a top priority to protect sea turtles and their habitats.

Careful planning goes into all our operations and this year we updated our 5-year business plan for 2022 - 2026. This strategic plan has been developed to help guide the charity, organise our teams and ensure we stay focused on our objectives and operate sustainably for years to come. It also forms the backbone of our operations and provides a

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reference and metric at the end of each year to measure our achievements.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, ORP has been able to quickly adapt to an ever changing world and continue our work thanks to the exceptional support from our corporate sponsors and individual givers, an agile and dedicated team, and stringent cost saving efforts. At the end of the year we were extremely fortunate to receive a very generous gift, making 2021 a record breaking year in donations for the charity.

This donation has both provided us with financial security for the next couple of years and allowed us to make giant leaps forward and accelerate programmes and initiatives that were originally planned for 2023-2026.

We are fully committed to being transparent about, and accountable for, how we spend all donations we receive.

Research

ORP continued to push the boundaries and pioneer research techniques to analyse sea turtle populations, distribution, health and threats in the Indian Ocean throughout 2021. Though the global pandemic continued to have an impact on our possibilities to carry out infield research for much of the year, we focused on analysis of data already collected, and on planning new research projects for the future.

Our satellite tagging project, led by ORP researcher Rushan Bin Abdul Rahman and Senior Scientist Dr Stephanie Köhnk was still paused in 2021, but we have secured a continued research permit and all necessary equipment has been transported to the Rescue Centre.

Towards the middle of the year a total of three papers led by the ORP team were accepted for publication. The first paper was led by Dr. Martin Stelfox and Dr. M Martin-Cereceda, exploring a successful example on how to engage researchers and society. It is available as an open access publication at https://www.scienceopen.com/document/read?vid=8c5210ca-9cdf-4108-b109-680ab0d7321f.

The second paper led by ORP senior scientist Dr. Stephanie Köhnk, documenting the presence of sangivorous ectoparasites found on entangled sea turtles in the Maldives was accepted in June and published in December. Stephanie has renewed a respective research permit in the Maldives and is further working with Dr. Joana Hancock towards extending this research into Kenya in the next year.

Lastly, a paper summarising the results of sea turtle nesting activity on an island in Baa Atoll and describing the finding of a polycephalic embryo for the first time in the Maldives was published at https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1940/2270 The study combined the veterinary knowledge of Dr. Minnie with the nest monitoring and analysis skills of Biologist & Communications Officer Rosie Brown and Dr Stephanie Köhnk.

Additionally, we contributed towards a global study on hawksbill sea turtle genomics and initiated planning a targeted sampling expedition together with the EPA in the first half of 2022. Finally, we assisted the Maldivian government in the preparation of the first ever national Red List Assessment for Marine Reptiles and hope to see these chapters published in early 2022.

We will continue our research and to pursue our goal to fill data gaps, as well as explore new research opportunities in 2022. We have a number of new projects in the pipeline and we are excited to get started.

Publications:

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Sea Turtle Population Research

Photographic identification (Photo ID) is a non-invasive technique used to identify individual animals in a population and track them over time from natural marks on the body. For sea turtles, it relies on capturing photographs of the unique patterns of scales on the animal’s face.

Photo ID can be used as a non-invasive alternative to tagging and data may be analysed through Capture-Mark-Recapture (CMR) methods. This technique allows researchers to conduct longitudinal studies of individuals, yielding information about home range, survival rate, migration patterns, and life cycle and includes groups that are less studied, such as juveniles and males.

We collect sightings data for both nesting and foraging green ( Chelonia mydas ) and hawksbill ( Eretmochelys imbricata ) sea turtles in Kenya, Maldives, Oman and Seychelles. Olive ridley ( Lepidochelys olivacea ), loggerhead ( Caretta caretta ), and leatherback ( Dermochelys coriacea ) sea turtles are present in these countries as well, but less regularly sighted.

ORP began collecting new and historical photographs of foraging and nesting turtles from the Maldives in 2014. We have an eight-year data set for some atolls. We started collecting Photo ID data from Kenya in 2018 and Oman in 2019. Unfortunately, the project in Oman has been on hold since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are looking at reinitiating it in 2022. Additionally, ORP has started a new chapter in the Seychelles in 2021.

The project aims to help fill the gaps in scientific knowledge by providing detailed information on the abundance, distribution, population growth rate, apparent survival, and nesting frequency of hawksbill and green sea turtles.

We continue to use the Internet of Turtles (IoT) platform to analyse all turtle sightings from Maldives, Kenya, Oman, and now Seychelles as well. The IoT platform combines data analytics with individual animal tracking. IoT uses computer vision to compare new IDs to the existing database and Wildbook to store metadata.

The total number of turtle encounters reported in the Maldives is 29,318 as of the end of 2021, including 454 newly identified turtles. We further worked on cleaning up old encounters and eradicating double identifications. No research expeditions to the North of the country were completed during the reporting period due to ongoing travel restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic. We still received turtle ID data from citizen scientist and marine biologists in the area, which we are very grateful for. Additionally, three new biologists joined the team, extending our research in Raa, northern North Malé and Noonu atolls towards the very end of 2021 and beginning of 2022.

With four year data sets of certain sites in Kenya, totalling over 3,000 sightings of 664 identified turtles (127 new individuals in 2021), we are looking to analyse these data using CMR, replicating our Maldivian population studies and gaining first insight into population stability and growth in Kenya.

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New Project Plans

Maldives

Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation

After a tough 2020, this year saw some return to normalcy here in the Maldives. A more stable stream of tourists meant consistent boat traffic, therefore allowing for detection of entangled turtles that was a little more in line with previous years. This year we admitted 33 new patients, with a further 5 to care for carried over from 2020. We were able to successfully rehabilitate and release 20 patients, including our longest term resident Azura, who was with us for a total of 2 years, 8 months and 11 days. Serendipitously, we were able to release her with a returning volunteer, who had been here the day Azura arrived in April 2019, so it was a very rewarding moment. It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of many people over the years, including ORP veterinarians, biologists, interns and volunteers who cared for her.

Our Rehabilitation Centre at One & Only Reethi Rah in North Malé Atoll has been invaluable in the triage and rehabilitation of our turtle patients, with Dr Minnie and Joe, the sea turtle biologist, working closely together to coordinate the collection and transfer of injured turtles from across North Malé Atoll. We are excited to have more rehabilitation tanks across Maldives to further increase our capacity to care for turtle patients.

We continue to provide high quality veterinary care to turtles rescued across the Maldives, majority of which were found entangled in ghost gear and need surgical intervention. This year we finally acquired an endoscope, which will allow us to go the extra mile for some of our more challenging patients.

We also had Dr Alex McGhee visit the Rescue Centre to set up our new patient management software in collaboration with the Sea Turtle Rescue Alliance and Provet Cloud, who are generously providing the software for free.

Turtle movements between reefs

The vast majority of the over 5,200 identified turtles are very faithful to a specific reef and have only been recorded on one site. Only 128 turtles have been seen on more than one reef (2.4 %). Of these, only 17 have visited three, and only one individual visited four sites in total. On average, green turtles move between sites less than 3 km apart and hawksbills less than 10 km.

Most green turtle movement has been recorded in Lhaviyani atoll (15 cases), with a lot of movement around Kuredu island (see right).

The longest green turtle movement was recorded in South Ari Atoll, along the outreef from Dhidhdhoo to Dhigurah.

Records of hawksbill turtles on multiple sites indicate that they are moving along reef structures, such as long outreefs or hopping between close reef structures on the inside of atolls. Most hawksbill turtle movement has been recorded in Ari Atoll (53 cases), with most turtles moving along the outreef from Dhidhdhoo to Dhigurah at the southern end of the atoll.

The longest distance between sites was covered by hawksbill turtles from Shaviyani to Noonu Atoll (up to 76.8 km) and by a single turtle sighted in South Ari as well as Rasdhoo Atoll (89.7 km, see right).

We suspect intra- and inter-atoll movement might be more common and aim to discover migration routes and patterns in the future with further extending our photo ID database.

Maldives Sea Turtle Photo-ID Research Results

This year, Baa Atoll has passed the total number of 1000 identified individual turtles and is now at 1003! Of these, 209 are green turtles and 794 hawksbills. A close second is North Malé Atoll, with 996 individual turtles, 914 of which are hawksbills and 82 greens. The largest number of green turtles can still be found in Lhaviyani (359) and Laamu Atoll (243). Both atolls also have a resident hawksbill population with 271 and 434 individuals respectively.

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The large number of resorts in the central atolls, as well as a consistent effort by our team members in certain atolls has resulted in better data coverage. The northern and southern atolls still have few turtles photographed and we greatly appreciate all submissions from citizen scientists.

The total number of turtle sightings in 2021 was 3,196 with 454 new individuals sighted. This takes the totals since records began to 29,318 sightings (hawksbills 20,160 and greens 9,158) with 5,251 individuals sighted (hawksbills 4,080 and greens 1,171) .

Turtle Nesting

ORP is continuing to collect data on sea turtle nesting mainly from Baa, Laamu and Lhaviyani atolls, where ORP’s Sea Turtle Biologists monitor the nests. We are encouraging other biologists in the country to report any nesting incidences, for example from South Malé, Noonu, Raa or Haa Daalhu Atoll.

In total we recorded 96 true nests and 54 false crawls during the reporting period. We counted 2,807hatchlings to date, with 71% hatching success in all nests that have hatched and could be examined post-hatching. The average time of incubation was 58 days. A manuscript describing the finding of a hatchling with polycephaly and other congenital malformations during nest content analysis has been published. In Laamu Atoll, ORP continued to monitor nesting on Gaadhoo, an uninhabited island thought to be one of the most significant green turtle nesting sites in the Maldives. Unfortunately, the nesting beach is subject to illegal poaching.

We plan to use the data we collect to justify government protection for Gaadhoo, and to help prevent proposed development which could have detrimental impacts on the turtle nesting beach. Long-term, we hope to establish a ranger programme to consistently monitor the nesting turtle population and deter poachers. Various funding options have been sought out to kickstart the ranger programme (e.g., Hans-Schiemenz-Fonds from the German Society for Herpetology and Reptile Care ). ORP is also working closely with Blue Marine Foundation to help create a network of protected areas (including Gaadhoo) in Laamu.

Satellite tagging

Our satellite tagging project, led by ORP researcher Rushan Bin Abdul Rahman was still paused in 2021, but we have secured a continued research permit and all necessary equipment has been transported to the Rescue Centre and Dr Minnie Liddell and Sea Turtle Biologist Joe Rigby are prepared to get started! We are eagerly awaiting our first patient ready for release.

Parasite Study

ORP senior scientist Dr. Stephanie Köhnk is documenting the presence of sangivorous ectoparasites found on entangled sea turtles in the Maldives and a paper was accepted in June and published in December 2021. Stephanie has renewed a respective research permit in the Maldives and is working with Dr. Joana Hancock towards extending this research into Kenya in 2022.

Internship Program

ORP’s Internship Program for Maldivian nationals is critical in achieving our goal to build local capacity in the Maldives; there are currently no other veterinarian training facilities available in the country. The interns work at the Rescue Centre for a three-month period and play an integral part in the daily running of the Rescue Centre. They receive a stipend, food, and accommodations during the internship.

The interns are taught basic turtle medical care and husbandry and help educate both guests and the school groups that visit the Rescue Centre. Once their internship is complete, they become turtle ambassadors for the project and continue to spread awareness of the project’s work and goals in the Maldives.

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The Marine Turtle Rescue Centre was supported by four interns this year: Ali Jinaad, Aminath Zein Ismail, Mohamed Shah and Mariyam Niuma.

Volunteer Programs

We run three volunteer programs in Maldives, however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic the research expedition was suspended for the duration of the reporting period.

Volunteering at the Marine Turtle Rescue Centre

The Rescue Centre welcomes anyone who is interested in sea turtle conservation and husbandry to volunteer. The volunteers help us care for the turtle patients and run the Rescue Centre. We launched The Rescue Centre Volunteer Program in 2017 and it has been very successful, however it was suspended for most of 2020 due to the pandemic.. It was safely reinstated for the duration of the reporting period, first at limited capacity and later in the year at full capacity. Many of our volunteers had re-booked from 2020 and were incredibly excited to finally be able to help us at the rescue centre. They continue to be an integral part of the running of the centre and we truly appreciate their efforts.

Volunteer Research Assistant Sea Turtle Expedition

Haa Alif Atoll is situated in the far north of Maldives where very little scientific work has been done. The lack of data in this region is what scientists call a “black hole”. We aim to fill this gap so that we can accurately interpret sea turtle population and movements in the Maldives. Due to its remote location, Haa Alif Atoll has very few resources to conduct dedicated sea turtle research or run marine conservation projects. In addition to our research, we drive community projects, working with the local schools, our local partner Island Development and Environmental Awareness Society (IDEAS), and with members of the community to help tackle common issues affecting marine habitats for turtles.

This project is sustained through the generous contributions of our expedition volunteers and brings economic benefits to the island of Kelaa in the form of ecotourism.

We cancelled all planned research expeditions in the reporting period due to the pandemic.

Visiting Veterinarian Program at the Marine Turtle Rescue Centre

The ORP Visiting Veterinarian Program, launched in 2019, provides a unique opportunity for qualified veterinarians specialising in exotic medicine from around the world to obtain hands-on experience working with wild sea turtles.

In 2021, the visiting vet program resumed and we hosted Dr Paul Ramos, an experienced wildlife veterinarian. While his time with us was a fascinating addition to his professional skills, Dr. Paul’s large social media following helped raise awareness of our charity and the work we do. His rescue footage was shared by the Dodo and on TikTok, thus helping our work reach millions of people on Social Media.

For 2022, we are expanding our program to include veterinarians from all around the world, who are in need of further clinical training in order to be able to work with sea turtles.

Kenya

Sea Turtle Population & Habitat Studies – Diani Chale Marine National Park & Reserve The main aim of the project here is to build a monitoring program to identify sea turtle foraging and aggregation hotspots in the Diani Chale Marine National Park and Reserve (DCMNPR), which will inform a site management plan currently being developed.

Olive Ridley Project has been running a sea turtle ID Program in Kenya since December 2018, focusing its work in the Diani-Chale Marine National Park and Reserve. The reserve is located approximately 25 km south of Mombasa, and

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includes a linear fringing reef that extends 25 Km between Tiwi (4°12'36"S; 39°37.06"E) in the north, to Chale Island off Gazi Bay (04°27'807"S; 39°32.158E) in the south.

Based at Diani Marine Education Centre (MEC), the ORP Kenya team, led by a marine biologist, conducts regular scuba diving surveys along the reef, collecting data on sea turtle abundance, distribution and behavior, to identify sea turtle foraging and aggregation hotspots in the reserve. Diving surveys are conducted through the dive centre Diving the Crab, in collaboration with members of the MEC, volunteers, while independent divers are encouraged to submit their photos.

The ORP team in Kenya was able to continue its work from January 2021 due to a generous sponsorship from our partners Marine Life Protectors and continuous logistic support from the dive centre, Diving the Crab, in Diani. As the world continued facing travel restrictions, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the team was reorganised with biologist Leah Mainye taking the lead as on-site Project Coordinator, under remote supervision.

Our Project Coordinator performed a total of 135 dives and two snorkeling surveys along Diani beach and one dive survey at Kisite Mpunguti Marine and Reserve. These efforts resulted in the sighting of 722 (116 new) green turtles and 84 (11 new) hawksbill individual turtles. Most of these sightings have been uploaded to the Internet of Turtles, the global online database for sea turtle sightings, despite ongoing problems experienced with this platform throughout the year.

As in previous years, ORP was a proud participant in the annual Diani Sea Turtle Festival, held in June. We were also featured in Kenya’s video chapter of the celebrations of the 20th Anniversary of the IOSEA Marine Turtle MoU, promoted by @ Indian Ocean South East Asia (WSTD@IOSEA), on World Sea Turtle Day.

In order to promote ORP Kenya’s work, we participated in different community outreach programs as well as workshops, such as the compilation of National Wildlife Census report meeting hosted by Kenya Wildlife Service, the Transboundary Conservation Area workshop hosted by WIOMSA, a consultative meeting with African Network of Animal Welfare and turtle conservation groups, a public consultative meeting with stakeholders to restore self-sustaining and functional reef ecosystem presented by Reefolution Foundation and many more community group meetings.

Kenya Sea Turtle Photo-ID Research Results

ORP has established the first facial ID database for Kenya along with MEC, featuring turtles identified by the team in DCMNRPR. In 2021 a total of 806 photos were submitted, with 123 new individuals identified. .

To date, ORP in Kenya has recorded 3,108 sea turtle sightings at the reserve, with 2,750 being green turtles and 358 being hawksbill turtles, corresponding to 590 individual green turtles and 74 individual hawksbill turtles.

We would like to thank MEC and CES for hosting us and for organisational support, and Diving the Crab for logistical support.

Oman

Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 pandemic we were inactive in Oman. However we plan to resume all activities at the beginning of 2022.

Pakistan

Pakistan’s coastline is split into two major provinces, Sindh and Baluchistan. Significant green turtle nesting occurs in Sindh province between the Hawksbay and French Beach coastlines. Between these two nesting sites is the fishing village of Abdul Rehman Goth (ARG). This village consists of around 3000+ small scale artisanal fishers who operate close to marine turtle nesting and foraging activity.

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Unfortunately, fishing nets are often abandoned, lost or discarded (ghost gear) resulting in a significant threat to sea turtle habitats. ORP has been working alongside the village since 2015 to develop initiatives that aim to avoid gear abandonment or disposal at sea or on beaches.

A circular economy initiative allows fishers and their families to convert ghost gear into products, such as dog leashes and bracelets, helping individuals secure an alternative income for themselves and the community. Moreover, owing to our educational programmes, fishers are returning end of life fishing gear and recycling gear to avoid it being disposed of in the environment in the first instance.

5 men and 4 women are currently involved in the circular economy project, making ghost net bracelets and ‘ghost leashes’ - a pet leash made out of ghost gear. Each ghost leash repurposes 81.5sqm / 880sqf of ghost net recovered from the Indian Ocean.

Both the ghost leashes and the ghost net bracelets are sold on ORP’s website and are quite popular: 71 dog leashes and 73 bracelets were sold in 2021. All proceeds are returned to the local community and in 2021, the sales of these products raised approximately £400 additional income for the artisans.

We plan to expand the product range and duplicate our circular economy project in other nearby villages over the next year.

Although ORP’s work in Pakistan was still affected by the pandemic in 2021 due to several lockdowns in the region, we still managed to recover almost 400 kg of ghost gear.

One of the sights we frequently visit is a tugboat wreck off the coast of Gadani. The wreck has become a hot spot for ghost nets as the entire tugboat is covered with nets and traps hundreds of marine animals. The ecosystem that has developed in and around the tugboat is rich in marine life. Hence it has also become a fishing spot where fishers cast their nets – which often get entangled. It is important for the fishers to understand the topography of the underwater ecosystem to reduce the risk of net entanglement, and we have been educating the fishers in the area about why they are losing their nets. The tugboat is also developing into a popular scuba location and removing ghost nets also helps make it a safe place for recreational divers.

Many of the beaches in the region where we operate are green turtle nesting beaches, and also popular tourist spots. We plan to initiate Turtle Watching Tours along some of these nesting beaches in 2022. The aim is to educate people on the appropriate code of conduct around sea turtles, whether it is a nesting female or a hatchling, so that minimal stress or discomfort is caused to the turtles.

This initiative will employ residents of Kakapir, a village located on the edge of Sandspit Beach, where green sea turtles come to nest each year. The plan will be put into effect from the beginning of the next nesting season.

With the help of ORP Pakistan volunteers and other divers in the area, we were able to raise funds to secure new football kits for the local football team of Abdul Rehman Goth, Buleji Baloch in the first half of the year. Most of the players in the team are also fishers and often help ORP collect and manage ghost gear. The ORP logo on the team’s t-shirts invokes people’s curiosity and questions about the logo initiate a dialogue where the team is able to impart information on ghost gear. So now, we literally have a football team of outreach people helping promote ORP’s message as they go around playing matches in other fishing villages!

ORP - Pakistan is also working with MAHI (Maritime Archaeological and Heritage Institute) to locate and remove

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ghost nets on shipwreck sites. Moreover, MAHI and ORP collaborate in creating awareness around ghost nets and its impact across fishing villages like Ibrahim Hyderi, Gharo and Gujju.

Education & Outreach

Education is a big part of ORP’s mission and an important aspect of our multifaceted approach to protecting sea turtles and their habitats. We believe education is a powerful tool to increase awareness, engage people and stimulate action. We usually educate school children, local communities, boat crews, divers, fishermen, tourists, resort staff, and biologists, face to face and in-person and this has started to pick up again during 2021.

We have continued with our e-learning platform on our website with free courses and resources, for both sea turtle lovers in general and the more science minded, about everything sea turtles. We hope this free knowledge sharing hub will be an important environmental education resource to help guide aspiring young scientists and supplement existing educational tools for remote learning and school projects.

In the reporting period, 425 students enrolled in our free courses and we had 65 e-Turtle school graduates and 38 Sea Turtle & Science Conservation graduates.

Webinars

This year ORP hosted a webinar on World Turtle Day for the Maldivian community on 23[rd] May. The webinar was co-hosted by Maldives Underwater Initiative, the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology (MoECCT), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A range of topics were covered from historic use of sea turtles in the Maldives and the legal history of turtle protection to reporting illegal activity concerning turtles today, such as poaching and keeping hatchlings as pets, and how best to swim with sea turtles. Over 50 different people joined the event, most of whom were extremely engaged with the event!

ORP co-hosted the Maldives Marine Biologist Virtual webinar with the Manta Trust, Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme, and Maldives Marine Research Institute in August. The goal was to reach marine biologists working in the Maldives and provide information on how to submit sightings and encounter data to research organisations. We reached almost 200 people with the webinar.

ORP celebrated World Sea Turtle Day on the 16[th] June by hosting a webinar ‘ Protecting Sea Turtles in the Maldives’ for marine biologists and conservationists in the Maldives, along with MoECCT and EPA. Over 150 people attended the event. The webinar focused on how to assist with sea turtle research and conservation as citizen scientists and researchers, and shared ORP’s research on population studies, nesting studies, and ghost-gear studies. ORP also covered code of conducts and best practices for wild turtle and nesting turtle encounters.

Conferences And Talks

Dr. Claire Petros - invited expert speaker at the first regional turtle workshop of West Africa discussing sea turtle medicine and first aid. Seven countries attended this workshop including Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Cape Verde, and Senegal.

Dr. Martin Stelfox - invited expert speaker at the 3[rd] Northern Indian Ocean Marine Turtle Task Force, Six countries attended including the Maldives, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.

Dr. Joana Hancock - invited guest speaker at SSI Marine Ecology Series to discuss the importance of citizen science in monitoring sea turtle foraging aggregations, using Kenya as a case study. The talk (held virtually) was promoted by MEGADIVE Diving Centre (Portugal) and was attended by about 50 diving enthusiasts.

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Educational Festivals

Laamafaru Festival, Maldives

Laamafaru Festival is a joint venture between our partner resort, Six Senses Laamu, and the Laamu community, focusing on raising awareness about the marine ecosystems in Laamu. Due to travel restrictions related to COVID-19, this year Six Senses Laamu held the festival simultaneously across 7 different islands in November, and also at an 8th school that was unable to participate earlier due to monitoring status. The event coordinated different educational activities across the islands. These activities included speeches, debates and performances by the students, as well as clean-ups and poster competitions. This is the biggest festival to date.

Collaborations

Kenya

Conservation Education Society (CES)

The Conservation Education Society believes that, through education, empowerment and collaboration, everyone, big or small, can play a role in preserving our natural world. CES was officially established in March 2019 and operates out of the Marine Education Centre in Diani, Kenya. CES regularly organises educational events which ORP participates in and contributes to, as well as provides administrative and logistical support.

Diani Turtle Watch

DTW, a turtle conservation monitoring group, surveys the beach to spot any turtle nesting activities, mortality and turtle stranding cases throughout the day. DTW collaborates with ORP by sharing photos of by-caught turtles and stranded turtles for ID purposes, enriching our database and assisting with information about the threats that affect the turtles feeding off Diani’s reef.

Diving The Crab

Widely recognised as the best dive centre in both Diani and in Kenya, Diving the Crab (DTC) is one of the main sponsors of the Marine Education Centre. DTC is also very supportive of marine biodiversity related activities in Diani, including ORP’s in-water work. Since ORP first arrived in Kenya, DTC has been instrumental in providing logistical support allowing ORP to conduct in-water surveys and explore Diani’s reefs, as well as actively participating in guest education, in-water surveys, ghost nest reporting and removal, and staff training.

D.M. Tours

D.M.Tours is Diani’s leading tour agency, tailoring high quality traveling experiences for the most demanding adventurers. D.M. Tours has become one of ORP’s most helpful supporters, by facilitating logistics to conduct in-water surveys during Covid-19 times, and by submitting regular sea turtle sightings along Diani Beach.

Maldives

Coco Collection

Our long standing partnership with Coco Collection Resorts continues. Our Marine Turtle Rescue Centre is located on Coco Dhuni Kolhu in Baa Atoll. We would like to thank Coco Collection for all their support and for hosting the Marine Turtle Rescue Centre, our staff, volunteers and interns.

IDEAS

We hope to continue our partnership with IDEAS (Island Development and Environmental Awareness Society) of Kelaa to conduct sea turtle research expeditions in Haa Alif Atoll in the latter part of 2022 once the Covid-19 pandemic is over. IDEAS works for the development of Ha. Kelaa in all aspects and areas such as Education &

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Training, Healthcare, Social Development, Environmental Awareness and Conservation, Sports & Recreation, Youth Development, Women Empowerment and Human Rights.

Joali Being, Raa Atoll, Maldives

We have extended our sea turtle research and rehabilitation efforts into Raa Aatoll this year by partnering with Joali Being. This new partnership will begin to develop rehabilitation facilities for injured sea turtles in the area whilst also providing a base to collect research data in 2022. We also hope to extend our community work by collaborating with local communities on sea turtle conservation and research.

Maldives Underwater Initiative (MUI)

MUI (Maldives Underwater Initiative) is a marine conservation initiative from Six Senses Laamu, Maldives, which unites the resort and its 3 NGO partners under one central banner, with the aim to consolidate shared research, science communication, community education and outreach goals. The NGO’s are Olive Ridley Project, Manta Trust and Blue Marine Foundation.

One&Only Reethi Rah, North Malé Atoll, Maldives

In addition to advancing research of sea turtles in North Malé Atoll, we have also opened a Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Centre at One&Only Reethi Rah for turtle patients in need of long-term rehabilitation without veterinary care. This frees up tank space at the Marine Turtle Rescue Centre to allow admittance of more injured turtles that require veterinary attention. Additionally, neighbouring resorts in a resort-dense atoll have a local point to send injured turtles. If required, ORP will arrange for injured turtles to be sent to our turtle veterinarian for further care.

Patina Maldives, Fari Islands, North Malé Atoll, Maldives

Officially partnered in December 2021 this new partnership will assist with data collection in North Malée and complement the data already collected in the region. Additionally, Patina Maldives, Fari Islands plan to support the ORP and the EPA on a nationwide genetic research study to better understand the genetic makeup of Hawksbill sea turtles in the country.

Prodivers & Kuredu Island Resort & Spa, Lhaviyani Atoll, Maldives

We continued our partnership with Prodivers, a German dive centre operator based on Kuredu Island Resort & Spa in Maldives, to work together to advance the research of sea turtles in the Maldives and provide educational outreach to international guests and Maldivian nationals. We would like to thank Prodivers for their support.

Six Senses Laamu, Laamu Atoll, Maldives

We continue our partnership with Six Senses Laamu, a resort in Laamu Atoll, Maldives, to work together to advance the research of sea turtles in Laamu Atoll and provide educational outreach to international guests and Maldivian nationals. Here we work closely with 2 other not-for-profit organisations and resort staff under the umbrella Maldives Underwater Initiative, with the ultimate goal of creating a network of locally managed marine protected areas, in consultation with the community. We would like to thank Six Senses Laamu for their support.

Soneva Jani, Noonu Atoll, Maldives

Having been long-time data contributors to the ORP, we officially went into partnership in 2021. This partnership aims to expand rehabilitation efforts in the country by providing additional rehab facilities in Noonu Atoll. In addition, our team will collect data on sea turtle population health in the region that will help contribute to the national database.

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Pakistan

Indus Scuba

Indus Scuba is a dive centre based in Karachi, Pakistan. They provide invaluable logistical and equipment support for ghost gear recovery dives in the region and also sponsored the PADI Open Water Certification of 3 ORP team members, adapting the training to Urdu no less.

Seychelles

Six Senses Zil Pasyon, Seychelles

Extending our relationship with Six Senses, we started working in the Seychelles in late 2021. The aim of this partnership is to use non-invasive research techniques to better understand sea turtle population health in the region. Additionally, we hope to work with existing sea turtle conservation groups to assist with ongoing research and conservation in the country.

World

International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF)

IPNLF works to develop, support and promote socially and environmentally responsible pole-and-line and handline tuna fisheries around the world. Our collaboration aims to develop a large scale ghost gear recovery project in the Maldives that incentivises fishers and other stakeholders.

International Sea Turtle Symposium

We regularly attend international symposiums including the ISTS. We also co-organised the sea turtle photo-ID workshop to develop standard protocols and new methods of analyses. However, this year the conference was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The conference has been rescheduled for 2022.

The Great Our-tours

We partnered with the national award-winning outdoor education provider The Great Out-tours to produce an activity filled range of curriculum-linked and risk-assessed educational resources inspired by sea turtles. The Sea Turtles Activity Bundle is targeted at primary/secondary children, adults in care, and domestic home settings. This is a great addition to our online learning platform and will help ORP further our goal of using education as a tool in sea turtle conservation.

Marine Life Protectors

NGO Tuna Forum

The NGO Tuna Forum brings together NGOs and other individuals and organisations that work comprehensively on global tuna sustainability issues. ORP currently sits on three working groups: Bycatch Mitigation, Data and Transparency and Well-Managed FAD Guidance. The aim of this involvement is to ensure ghost gear and ghost fishing are brought into the conversation of global tuna fisheries at the policy level. We hope our experience and expertise will help guide stakeholders to make informed decisions on the issue and ensure it remains firmly on the agenda.

Satlink

Satlink, a Spanish company focused on the development of technological solutions that foster the sustainability of the fishing industry and ocean resource protection, has partnered with ORP and the International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF) to establish a programme for the removal and reuse of abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing nets and other fishing gear (known as ALDFG) in Noonu Atoll. This project will begin in 2022 and build on lessons learnt from previous pilot projects in Gemanafushi. If successful, we hope to scale this project nationwide to address the ALDFG issue in the country.

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Sea Turtle Rescue Alliance (STRA)

STRA, a charity registered in England & Wales, is a Global Network for Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Centres to share clinical knowledge and data to enhance medical practices at facilities worldwide, supporting the global conservation effort for these endangered species. ORP’s Marine Turtle Rescue Centre was the first rescue facility to pilot ProVet Cloud, a patient management software adapted specifically for sea turtles.

Global Online Community

A major part of our strategy to increase awareness about the plight of sea turtles and the deadly consequences of ghost gear is digital/social media presence. We continue to grow our web and social media channels to keep the public engaged with new content and regular updates. Our website now includes an online learning platform with free courses and resources about all things sea turtle and sea turtle conservation. Our sea turtle protocols have been translated into multiple languages, and our Sea Turtle FAQ pages are extremely popular, with thousands of visitors every month.

Our website traffic grew substantially in 2021 with a 56% increase in page views (538,680 vs 345,673 the previous year) and a 53% increase in users ( 273,918 vs 179,286 the previous year). Our digital community of supporters and followers span the globe, the biggest audiences being in the US, the UK, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Philippines, and Malaysia, in the age range 18-34. Our website has slightly more male than female visitors, but our social media channels have more female than male followers.

Although many conferences and events were cancelled this year, such as ISTS and Scuba Digital, our digital presence continues to increase, particularly on social media. On Instagram, we welcomed over 4,800 new followers and over 1,400 on Facebook. We even set up a TikTok account and have had almost 20,000 views of our 2021 content alone.

Since the pandemic began, the importance of our digital presence has really been put on display. A big part of our work is education and outreach and we are incredibly grateful to be able to educate our ever-growing following on social media and share our most up-to-date news with our supporters, whether that be about a new sea turtle patient, new scientific report or new education/outreach initiative.

In September 2021 ORP took part in Sea Turtle Talks, an online Twitter conference. We delivered a series of tweets on ‘The Olive Ridley Project: Protecting Sea Turtles and Their Habitats’ covering our core goals, past achievements and future directions.

Sea Turtle Talks was a free 3-day, ISTS supported, virtual event and was a fantastic opportunity to connect with sea turtle conservationists from all around the world. A lot of new and exciting sea turtle research was presented at the conference, all of which is still available on the @SeaTurtleTalks Twitter page.

Fundraising

ORP is funded entirely through donations and grants.

Private Donations

Private donations are largely generated online, through our symbolic turtle adoption and monthly giving programs and one-time gifts, and by volunteers at the Marine Turtle Rescue Centre. Our online donations increased compared to the same period in the previous year. Our volunteer programme was able to resume at the beginning of 2021, albeit at a reduced capacity.

We were fortunate enough to receive a large donation at the end of 2021 which allowed us to revisit our strategy for the next five years and bring forward programmes planned for 2023-2026, as well as incorporate new initiatives that otherwise would not have been possible. We once again wish to express our deepest gratitude to our generous donor, who has requested anonymity, for this life altering donation.

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We would like to thank everyone who adopted and donated for supporting our work during another difficult year - their generosity has been incredible and they are the reason we can continue to do what we do. We had an exceptional year for sea turtle adoptions and a phenomenal response to our Giving Tuesday campaign. Many supporters did birthday fundraisers for us and we received several generous gifts. We would also like to thank our commercial partner, Legend Bracelets, for helping us promote the turtle adoption program - it has made a big difference.

OceanCare

OceanCare is a Swiss charity committed to marine wildlife protection. Since 2011 they have had a Special Consultative Status on marine issues with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. OceanCare provides funding for our lead veterinarian. We would like to thank OceanCare for their generous and continued support.

Commercial Participators

In order to diversify our fundraising income, the Charity formed several new partnerships with carefully selected Commercial Participators in the financial year. In addition to our existing relationships, we partnered with:

We would also like to thank all our long term commercial partners for their support:

10 International (Sea Change Wine), Excelsior Maldives Private Limited, Fourth Element, Legend Bracelets, Redhand Limited, Silver Goat Media, Turtle Sodas, and Yokka.

Plans & Objectives for 2022

In 2022 we will seek to widen the objectives for the charity and gain the charity commission’s approval for this. The new charitable objectives will be as follows:

To promote for the benefit of the public the conservation, protection and improvement of sea turtles and their

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habitats in particular but not exclusively by:

  1. Promote humane behaviour towards sea turtles by providing appropriate care, protection, treatment and security for animals that need care and attention by reason of sickness, maltreatment, poor circumstances or ill usage and to educate the public and veterinarian community in matters pertaining to sea turtle welfare in general and the prevention of cruelty and suffering to sea turtles.

  2. Advance the education of the public in the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment of sea turtles, by provision of talks, workshops, online courses and training.

  3. Advance the education of the scientific community by filling scientific data gaps in sea turtle research.

The large private donation made at the end of 2021 will allow us to review our plans and bring forward some of the items in our five year plan. We have allocated 53% of this donation to be spent on direct charitable activities over the next two years, focusing on education and outreach initiatives, scientific research, and rescue and rehabilitation efforts. We are, for example:

The remainder of the donation will be invested in the long-term success and financial sustainability of the charity. This includes bringing on board two new key team members: a fundraiser and a Chief Operating Officer (COO). Until now, ORP has relied on volunteers and willing team members to fundraise. However, as the charity grows and expands, this becomes an unsustainable way of operating and ensuring financial security. A dedicated fundraiser will help ensure ORP’s financial sustainability by establishing and maintaining diverse income streams from individual givers and corporate partners, as well as through grants, legacy, and trust donations.

Bringing onboard a COO will allow the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to focus more time on advocacy, policy, expansion plans, and creating and building relationships with other stakeholders. The goal is to bridge the gap between policymakers and researchers by communicating our research findings effectively, as well as making sure that our research informs policy decisions in the areas of sea turtle conservation and management.

The COO’s role will be to oversee daily business and administrative processes; support the charity’s objectives, programs and team members; and assist the CEO in all aspects of running the charity.

We have four main objectives for 2022:

  1. Continue to expand research projects

  2. Fill our understanding of sea turtle populations dynamics

  3. Expand sea turtle epibiont research

  4. Investigate survival rates of olive ridleys post rehabilitation release

  5. Assess environmental factors influencing sea turtle behaviour

  6. Assess green turtle feeding behaviour and diet composition.

  7. Identify major foraging habitats.

  8. Identify and fill data gaps in sea turtle research

  9. Expand our ghost gear recovery and repurposing projects in the Maldives and Pakistan

  10. Expand our ghost gear recovery efforts in the Noonu Atoll, Maldives

  11. Refine circular economy model in Pakistan.

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  1. Increase collaborative projects with local groups and governments

  2. Assist with Sea Turtle Red List Assessment in the Maldives

  3. Continue to work with governments to assist in data collection and/or conservation management of sea turtles.

  4. Engage local groups and individuals in sea turtle conservation and research.

  5. Provide the best possible care for injured sea turtles in the Indian Ocean

  6. Expand our rescue and rehabilitation facilities in the Maldives and in other areas in need of facilities

  7. Utilise emerging evidence based veterinary medicine to ensure best veterinarian practices are implemented at our rescue centre and share these gold standard practices with other turtle rescue centres internationally.

  8. Continue our visiting veterinarian program and harness knowledge gained from these specialists and provide training for vets from low resource countries.

Financial Review

The Olive Ridley Project is committed to minimising administrative costs and increasing revenue to maximise the reach of its conservation and research programmes.

Income this financial year reached £365,884 and was predominantly achieved through donations and grants.

To achieve our objectives, we rely on senior staff, veterinarians, researchers and project coordinators to work as consultants within the charity. Consultants are solely funded through donations and grants.

We have an end of year surplus of £237,683, due to a large donation received towards the end of the year.

Reserves Policy

The Charity Trustees are responsible for ensuring the organisation has enough unrestricted reserves to safeguard the charity’s core activities in periods of fluctuating income and operate on a skeleton staff for 3 months. Skeleton staff includes the CEO, senior staff and veterinarian scientist. The Charity Trustees have calculated an appropriate reserves range for the Charity of £30,000 - £40,000 in 2022, growing to £100,000 - £120,000 by 2026 in line with increased expenditures and expansion of the Charity. The Charity Trustees consider that this target range provides sufficient flexibility in the context of operational requirements for the Charity and the financial impact of risk the Charity faces.

The minimum reserves required is the equivalent of operating the Charity on a skeleton staff for a period of three months, or £20,000 in 2022, increasing to £63,000 by 2026.

Free reserves as of 31[st] December 2021 were £308,881.

Restricted reserves are £26,246. These are in relation to grants received from other organisations or private donations for specific projects and purposes.

Statement of Trustee's Responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

Charity law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable Law). The financial statements are required by law to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to:

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The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charity's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of the financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Approved by the trustees on 5th September 2022 and signed on their behalf by:

Amanda Costain Lee Cannan Trustee Trustee/Treasurer

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REGISTERED NUMBER: 1165905

THE OLIVE RIDLEY PROJECT

PERIOD ENDED 31[ST] DECEMBER 2021

SEGRAVE & PARTNERS LLP TURNPIKE HOUSE 1208/1210 LONDON ROAD LEIGH ON SEA ESSEX SS9 2UA

THE OLIVE RIDLEY PROJECT

RECEIPTS & PAYMENTS ACCOUNT PERIOD ENDED 31[ST] DECEMBER 2021

RECEIPTS
Donations
Grants
Sales
Volunteers Rescue Centre
TOTAL RECEIPTS
PAYMENTS
Expedition Costs
Bank Charges
Wages and Consultants
Research
Veterinary Services
Education and Outreach
Expenses
Equipment
Travel Costs
Subsistence
Medical Supplies
Independent Examination
Insurance
Marketing
Printing, Postage and Stationery
Computer, Software and Internet Costs
Sundries
Tee-Shirts
Ghost Gear Products
Investment
TOTAL PAYMENTS
SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) OF RECEIPTS
OVER PAYMENTS
TRANSFERS BETWEEN FUNDS
SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) AFTER TRANSFERS
CASH FUNDS BROUGHT FORWARD
CASH FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD		 Unrestricted
Restricted
Endowment
TOTAL
Funds
Funds
Funds
2021
267,941
41,822
-
309,763
-
1,058
-
1,058
-
-
-
-
55,063
-
-
55,063
323,004
42,880
-
365,884
-
566
-
566
1,614
-
-
1,614
27,883
184
-
28,067
5,431
15,700
-
21,131
12,890
12,756
-
25,646
9,870
9,870
2,064
1,022
-
3,086
3,327
16,578
-
19,905
2,497
-
-
2,497
137
-
-
137
1,299
-
-
1,299
400
-
-
400
1,575
-
-
1,575
1,265
-
-
1,265
58
631
-
689
575
-
-
575
72
-
-
72
1,794
-
-
1,794
-
1,013
-
1,013
7,000
-
-
7,000
79,751
48,450
-
128,201
243,253
5,570 )
(
-
237,683
26,364
26,364 )
(
-
-
269,617
31,934 )
(
-
237,683
39,264
58,180
-
97,444
308,881
26,246
-
335,127		 TOTAL
2020
45,033
1,616
337
4,861
51,847
-
952
25,871
20,069
12,130
-
978
1,178
500
-
89
952
-
973
140
-
-
43
-
-
63,876
12,028 )
(
-
12,028 )
(
109,472
97,444

THE OLIVE RIDLEY PROJECT

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES PERIOD ENDED 31[ST] DECEMBER 2021

TOTAL
CASH FUNDS
Current Account
331,688
PayPal Account
2,357
Kenya Accounts
1,082
TOTAL CASH FUNDS
335,127
ASSETS RETAINED FOR CHARITY'S OWN USE
Rescue Centre
Investment
LIABILITIES
Independent Examiner Fees
- 2021
Volunteers Advance Payment		 Unrestricted
Funds
305,442
2,357
1,082
308,881
Fund to which
asset belongs
Unrestricted
Unrestricted
Fund to which
asset belongs
Unrestricted
Unrestricted		 Restricted
Endowment
Funds
Funds
26,246
-
-
-
-
-
26,246
-
Current
Cost
Value
32,428
18,897
7,000
7,000
39,428
25,897
Amount
Due
400
25,209
25,609

Signed by two Trustees on behalf of all the Trustees

AJCostain

…......................................................... Amanda Costain Date: 19th July 2022

L Cannan

…......................................................... Lee Cannan Date: 19th July 2022

THE OLIVE RIDLEY PROJECT

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS PERIOD ENDED 31[ST] DECEMBER 2021

Independent examiners report to the trustees of The Olive Ridley Project in respect of the period ended 31[st] December 2021.

This is a report in respect of an examination carried out on the financial statements set out on pages one and two under Section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 and in accordance with the directions given by the Charity Commissioners under sub-section 5(b) of that section.

Responsibilities of trustees and independent examiners

As described in the annual report, the charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements. It is our responsibility to carry out procedures designed to enable us to report our opinion.

It is our responsibility to:

Basis of opinion

Our examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination include a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a "true and fair view" and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Opinion

No matter has come to our attention in connection with our examination which gives us reasonable cause not to believe that in any material respect:

Segrave & Partners LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor Turnpike House 1208/1210 London Road Leigh on Sea Essex SS9 2UA

Date: 19th July 2022