The Pearl Protectors

For the fourth year, the Turtle Patrollers are ready! We successfully completed the training sessions for all volunteers who will be participating in this year's Turtle Patrol along the western coast of Colombo. As the turtle nesting season starts, many sea turtles will be arriving on the beaches of Colombo to nest. Colombo is considered the only capital city in the world where sea turtles congest in large numbers to nest. Along with the turtles are poachers ready to steal sea turtle eggs for trade and consumption. Additionally, coastal pollution, light & sound pollution, temperature warming, erosion and coastal infrastructure has posed a larger threat to sea turtles arriving to nest in this urban beach. 140 Turtle Patrolling volunteers will act as a deterrent against any poaching and other challenges the sea turtles will be facing when they arrive to nest. The ex-situ conservation efforts will be carried out till the end of the sea turtle nesting season to support the SL Coast Guard conservation efforts in collaboration with the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Previous year, over 14,000 sea turtle eggs were protected and conserved through the Turtle Patrol. All Turtle Patrol volunteers have received 3 separate module training on the conservation practices #TurtlePatrol #TurtlePatrol25 #seaturtlenesting #Colombo #SriLanka #dwc #slcg #exsitu #seaturtle #turtle #ocean #beach #volunteer #pearlprotectors #dehiwala #mountlavinia #conservation #marineconservation

We successfully completed our 30th undersea cleanup of Cleaner Seabeds for Sri Lanka expedition During two separate dives, our volunteer divers were able to remove 45kg of stranded ghost fishing nets from Thermopylae Sierra wreck With the support of 6 volunteer divers, we cleaned a significant part of the wreck. While removing, we were able to rescue many marine animals entangled in the nets. A ship wreck allows ample space and habitat for marine ecosystem to thrive. These stranded nets have become a death trap and hindrance for the vibrant marine ecology in and around wrecks Our expedition will continue to remove much of the underwater marine litter stranded around our island. Huge appreciation goes out to the dive volunteers who took part in the cleanup. The Expedition is supported by our Main Partners @plasticcycle Lanka Environment Fund Dive Partner: Island Scuba, Sri Lanka Waste Management Partner: Cleantech Logistical Partner @dorsal.lk #cleanerseabedsforsl #cleansrilanka #underwatercleanup #colombo #oceanpollution #ghostfishingnets #sierra #volunteer #padi #diving #underwater #pearlprotectors #ocean #marineenvironment #environment #sea #srilanka #fishing #nets #cleanerseabedsforlk #plasticpollution

Remembering 20 years since the Indian Ocean Tsunami Thank you CNA for featuring the work we do through an insightful documentary (41:20) https://lnkd.in/grFP8JKA

We conducted an awareness session on the impact of single use plastic to the environment at the 59th Scout Camporee held at Viharamaha Devi Park. Over 60 scout troops from various schools across the island had participated during the Camporee which was organized by Sri Lanka Scout Association Our interactive awareness session included segments of how scouts can be involved in bringing greater behavioral change in reducing the use of single use plastic while inspiring fellow scout patrols to volunteer collectively in mitigating plastic leakage to the environment #scouting #srilanka #camporee #volunteer #awareness

We conducted an activity session at the Children's Festival in line with Sri Lanka Design Festival (SLDF) The activity session which was targeting junior ages kids focused on areas of marine conservation, plastic usage reduction and on microplastic. Kudos to the team who joined to facilitate the activities. #sldesignfest #SriLanka #children #awareness #pearlprotectors #microplastic #cinnamonlife

We are delighted to be featured on the Edges of Earth short documentary presented at COP29 Azerbaijan Our partnership with the Lanka Environment Fund supported in taking our message to the larger global audience

We are Hiring! Volunteer Coordinator of The Pearl Protectors https://lnkd.in/g5Jr936J

We conducted an educational and awareness session at Holy Family Convent ,Colombo 04 where over 300 students from the senior sections joined in. Our facilitators delved into topics on marine biodiversity in Sri Lanka, marine environment challenges, Impact from single use plastic and microplastic, career guidance on the marine sphere, citizen science involvement and on call to action to protect the marine environment. Our team cherished moments when students presented the team with an appreciation card and inquired on various avenues on career building through protecting the marine environment. The session was organised in collaboration with the English Union of Holy Family Convent Gratitude to the amazing facilitators and the team for making this session a success. #holyfamilyconvent #education #awareness #marineconservation #pearlprotectors

We have been featured on the Ocean University Of Sri Lanka magazine 'Yathra' Absolute honour to have the amazing students of the university joining in as volunteers for many of our marine conservation efforts. Article by Muthu Tharanga Rajapaksha

A shoreline Cleanup was conducted in collaboration with the staff of WIA Systems Inc joining in as volunteers. 26 volunteers joined in to clean a beach stretch of 800m. 94kg of coastal pollution was collected and segregated where 78kg accounted as plastic waste and 16kg of waste were non plastic and non-biodegradable. All segregated waste was collected by Cleantech for recycling/incineration #beachcleanup #dehiwala #beach #volunteer #wia #ifs #SriLanka #plasticpollution #ocean