Silver Reef Development supports Community Outreach and Turtle Tourism

St. Kitts Turtle Monitoring Network this week received a grant from developers Silver Reef St. Kitts, in support of their important work on monitoring the sea turtle heritage of St. Kitts.

Silver Reef Director, Sebastian Mottram said, “We are very pleased to be able to support the St. Kitts Turtle Monitoring Network (SKSTMN). We have been proactively and personally involved with the project for some time and we see the objectives as a close synergy with our own eco-friendly principles.

It also gives us, as developers, a chance to be involved in a community wide project that will benefit not only Kittitians but tourists too, for generations to come.”

The St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network was founded by Dr. Kimberly Stewart, a 32-year-old PhD student from Georgia, and is a non-profit organization that surveys and tags turtles as well as promotes conservation and understanding. Stewart spends long hours with volunteers between March and July patrolling beaches, tagging nesting turtles and taking blood samples.

Dr. Stewart said “Through the generous support of our volunteers we have secured a space where community outreach can take place on a daily basis. We have been managing a limited budget for some time to fund our turtle work and so we were absolutely delighted when Mr. Mottram approached us on behalf of Silver Reef.

“Our organization is community based and is run strictly off donations of time and money from volunteers. Any donations made will go directly into community development and outreach either through development of education opportunities or research,” she said.