The Olive Ridley Project (ORP), founded in 2013, is a charity registered in England & Wales, the Maldives, and Kenya, dedicated to protecting sea turtles and their habitats through rescue and conservation medicine, scientific research, and education and outreach. The name 'Olive Ridley Project' honours the charity’s humble beginnings of documenting olive ridley turtle entanglements in the Maldives. Although the organisation’s mission has since broadened, their name remains a tribute to its origins.
In January 2015, we at Coco Collection proudly announced our official partnership with ORP, with an aim to help injured sea turtles through medical intervention and intensive rehabilitative therapy.
To that end, in February 2017, we opened our first Marine Turtle Rescue Centre, here at Coco Palm Dhuni Kohlu, which at the time of opening, was the first fully equipped, veterinary-run rescue centre for sea turtles in the Maldives. Since then, ORP’s veterinary team has cared for and treated hundreds of sea turtles with severe injuries, often caused by ghost net entanglements, from across the country.
While wildlife rehabilitation globally sees an average success rate of around 50%, the ORP’s Marine Turtle Rescue Centre has reached a success rate of approximately 60%. We’re grateful for this progress and remain dedicated to continually learning and improving our medical approaches to better support these vulnerable species.
ORP Marine Turtle Rescue Centre
The Rescue Centre houses a veterinary clinic complete with a laboratory, X-ray, ultrasound, and cold laser device, an endoscope and surgical facilities. It serves as an advanced teaching facility and is a leading resource for sea turtle conservation medicine in the region.
The sea turtle patients spend their recovery period in tanks, all seven of which are supplied with fresh seawater. The veterinary team manages the care of the sea turtle patients, and the husbandry is assisted by an intern and team of volunteers.
Additionally, we offer paid internships for Maldivian nationals with the aim of developing local expertise in the care and conservation of the sea turtle population.
Most of the sea turtle patients treated at the Marine Turtle Rescue Centre are admitted due to complications related to ghost gear entanglement. The veterinary team has developed a comprehensive, multi-stage programme to treat patients with entanglement injuries and resulting Buoyancy Syndrome.
We also welcome local school children to the Rescue Centre, offering them a unique opportunity to learn about the sea turtle patients and the treatments provided. During their visit, students can explore the clinic, observe diagnostic procedures firsthand, and gain a deeper understanding of the injuries these sea turtles face and the care they require.
The guests at Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu not only get an opportunity to visit the sea turtle patients and watch live feeding, they also often get to join the veterinary team on the happy occasion of patient releases.
When a sea turtle patient is ready to return to its natural habitat, ORP and Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu organise a release event, which the guests can observe this special occasion either from the beach or from a boat, making it a truly memorable experience
To carry a souvenir home, guests can also purchase a ghost gear bracelet, handmade by our volunteers at the Rescue Centre from ghost gear recovered with entangled turtle patients. This is also a good way to support sea turtle protection, as not only are the funds from the sale utilised in the care of sea turtles, but every ghost net out of the ocean is a possible deterrent to sea turtle entanglement. Guests also have the opportunity to adopt the turtle patients to support their care and rehabilitation.
Science at The Rescue Centre
The Rescue Centre is also home to ORP’s exciting satellite tagging research initiative, #ORPTrack. This initiative aims to discover where the sea turtle patients journey after their release, and to better understand the feeding habits of olive ridley turtles. Although olive ridleys are plentiful, much about them remains unknown due to their tendency to spend most of their lives in the vast, open ocean—an area that #ORPTrack aims to explore.
The satellite tags allow the tracking of turtles for up to a year and the data gathered from these tags is consistently monitored, recorded and analysed by ORP. The long-term goal is to use these findings towards designing future conservation strategies.
ORP’s #SeaTurtleHealth database is also housed at the Rescue Centre. This multi-centre initiative aims to collect key health metrics over time to establish critical clinical reference ranges for sea turtle veterinary surgeons to use when directing therapy. It is the first comprehensive database of its kind in the region and provides valuable information about the health of sea turtles in our waters.
Donate Now
To learn more about ORP and their vital work, please visit: https://oliveridleyproject.org
Planning a visit to Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu? You can support the Rescue Centre by bringing essential supplies for sea turtle care mentioned in the wish list below. To donate specific medical items, please contact ORP’s veterinary team at vet@oliveridleyproject.org.
Wishlist:
Honey, Gloves, Magic Sponges, Towels (all/any size), Scrubbing Brushes
