The Great Marine Project (GMP) had its beginnings in the Great Turtle Project. Due to the overwhelming overlap in marine life, covering corals, fish, turtles and a host of other endangered marine animals, WOX has decided to make the Great Turtle Project even larger by incorporating the entire marine ecosystem.
Although sea turtles are our main concern, the importance of healthy corals and other microscopic life forms in the ocean absolutely cannot be discounted in the life of the turtles.
Our project partner, Ecoteer, is a UK registered non-profit organisation which, like WOX, specialises in instigating grass roots conservation. Ecoteer has initiated talks with the Department of Fisheries Terengganu, Marine Parks, University Malaysia Terengganu, Perhentian Islands Operators Association and the local village community to make this a more inclusive project.
The latest programmes under our Great Marine Project will start in 2010. It will initially be based at a local resort running a little turtle hatchery under the management of Ecoteer.
Having seen success and acceptance of the community in Tioman where a conservation education programme was carried out at one school over several months, WOX believes that the continuation of such programmes will only bring the community a step closer towards developing their very own responsibility over the survival of the turtles and its environment. After the few months at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Juara, our facilitators came across children telling their fishermen uncles to dispose of their hooks responsibly and took greater care in the disposal of rubbish in general. This is why we are bringing this programme to Perhentian and will be the first steps towards community involvement in the Great Marine Project. The involvement of the villagers and the resorts is critical to this project as the main threat to turtles in Perhentian is egg poaching by the local people and beach development and tourist impacts by the resorts.
The Great Marine Project aims to develop a healthy marine ecosystem through education, research and direct involvement in everyday activities of the resorts and its supporting community, including the local villagers, resort owners, Malaysian and foreign tourists, volunteers, individuals and corporations, government bodies and Marine Parks.
| The Great Orangutan Project and Great Marine Project are made up of several programmes:
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