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The Ocean Project Seychelles

@theoceanproject.sey

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A local, non-governmental org. in Seychelles on a mission to protect our oceans through education, action and research 🌊🐋💙#TheOceanProjectSeychelles

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2 months ago

📣 TOP had the pleasure of hosting a community workshop targeted at secondary and post-secondary school students, focusing on the sources, impacts, and solutions to plastic pollution in Seychelles 🇸🇨

🏞️ TOP outlined our ongoing River Microplastics project, giving the students a firsthand look at our data collection methods and equipment. The session also featured a study from a UNISEY graduate on willingness among Seychellois to switch from synthetic plastics to bioplastics 🌱

💬 The students were given the opportunity to jump into interactive activities, working together to identify plastic-related issues in their own schools or communities, and brainstorming realistic solutions and implementation techniques 🔍

👏 A huge thank you to the students and representatives who joined us from Anse Royale, Anse Boileau, and Belonie secondary schools, as well as Parley Seychelles, UniSey, SMA, NIHSS, and SALS. We hope that workshops like these spark passion and initiative among the Seychelles’ youth, inspiring them to share these vital ideas and with their peers! 🌍

Thank you to @s4soutreach as well, who supported the delivery of this workshop 🌱 taken in Seychelles Island, East Africa by @theoceanproject.sey

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5 months ago

🏞️ Our 2nd round of sampling is officially complete! Today, the TOP team was accompanied by six 3rd-year students from the @universityofseychelles. These young, emerging researchers assisted with the water and environmental data collection at the Port Glaud river, which represents a ‘pristine’ system in our Rivers Project.

👏 A big thank you to the girls, who made this sampling day a whole lot of fun!

#microplastics #plasticpollution #freshwaterresearch taken in Port Glaud by @theoceanproject.sey

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8 months ago

🏞️ Today, The Ocean Project team had the pleasure of being joined by a group of children and Ms. Janine from @gaea.seychelles on a scientific adventure. The group assisted with TOPs river sampling project, which is building data on the presence and types of micro-plastics in fresh water systems across Mahé. 🏝️

🧑‍🔬 Sharing these methods with young children equips them with technical skills for the future, while also fostering a passion for our environment. 🌿

#freshwaterresearch #rivers #microplastics taken in Bel Ombre, Seychelles by @theoceanproject.sey

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8 months ago

👩🏼‍🔬 The laboratory phase of our Commonwealth Blue Charter-funded project is in full swing! Over the past few months, our project manager and a dedicated team of volunteers have been processing river water samples from Belombre, Anse Royale, and Port Glaud at the UniSey lab. By sieving and filtering these samples, we have been able to isolate microplastics ranging from 1 mm to 0.02 mm in size! The team meticulously records the quantity, color, type, and erosion level of the microplastics collected within each sieve. Interestingly, micro-fibres currently make up the vast majority of our findings. 🪡

#microplastics #plasticpollution #freshwaterresearch taken in Mahé, Seychelles by @theoceanproject.sey

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9 months ago

🏝️ A big thank you to @royalcwsociety for featuring us on their website! We are so pleased to have had the opportunity to contribute to the Commonwealth’s ‘Clean Oceans Plastics’ Campaign. We look forward to hosting more cleanups in the future and together, we WILL make a difference! 🇸🇨💚

🌐 Full article here: https://www.royalcwsociety.org/post/the-ocean-project-seychelles-report-on-their-commonwealth-clean-oceans-beach-clean-up

#beachcleanup #commonwealth #commonwealthgames #kingsbaton taken in Seychelles Island, East Africa by @theoceanproject.sey

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a year ago

🇸🇨 As a proud Commonwealth member state, the Seychelles welcomed the King’s Baton to celebrate the upcoming Commonwealth Games, which will take place in Glasgow in 2026.

🏖️ Yesterday, the Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (@sey_olympic), The Ocean Project Seychelles, MCSS (@marineconservationsocietysey), and the Seychelles Defence Forces (@sdf_seychelles) organised a beach and underwater clean-up at Beau Vallon. The clean-up was assisted by @seychelles_sma students and the IUCN IslandPlas Project (@greatbluewall_), and supported the Commonwealth’s ‘Clean Oceans Plastics’ Campaign, which aims to bring together local communities to prevent one million pieces of plastic from entering Commonwealth waterways.

🚮 Within one hour, we collected a total of 27.7 kg of litter, composed of 15.7 kg of plastics, 5.5 kg of glass, 3 kg of metal, and 3.5 kg of paper and wood. Notably, only 2.2 kg of the plastics collected are currently recyclable in Seychelles! Separating the waste clearly demonstrated how little of our daily rubbish can be repurposed on our small island developing state, leaving the vast majority to persist on our beaches and in our oceans.

🌊 As we were cleaning the beach and filming our team of divers, we were lucky enough to capture a whale shark feeding just a few hundred meters offshore Beau Vallon beach. The whale shark migrates through Seychelles during these months and feeds by filtering seawater through its gills, making it particularly vulnerable to the effects of marine pollution. The presence of this flagship species vividly underscores how, without proper action and intervention, our litter can so easily reach and impact the wildlife around us.

👏 A huge thank you to everyone who joined and supported us! @royalcwsociety @brikole_seychelles @sdf_seychelles @greatbluewall_ @seychelles_sma @seychellespoliceforce @huntdeltelcoltd

#commonwealth #kingsbatonrelay #cleanoceansplasticscampaign #commonwealthgames2026 #beachcleanup taken in Seychelles Island, East Africa by @theoceanproject.sey

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a year ago

📣 We are excited to announce that TOP will be hosting a beach clean up next week on Tuesday 21st October 2025, in collaboration with the Royal Commonwealth Society (@royalcwsociety), the Marine Conservation Society of Seychelles (@marineconservationsocietysey) and the Seychelles Coast Guard (@sdf_seychelles).

🇸🇨 This clean up forms part of an important series of activities to welcome the King’s Baton to Seychelles, and support the Commonwealth’s ‘Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign’.

🏖️ We will meet at 9am on Beau Vallon beach, just in front of Mike’s Store. We hope to see you there!

Together, we WILL make a difference! 🌍

#commonwealth #commonwealthgames2026 #commonwealthgames #kingsbaton #kingsbatonrelay #beachcleanup taken in Seychelles Island, East Africa by @theoceanproject.sey

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a year ago

🔍 A Closer Look into our Commonwealth Rivers Project 🏞️

This weekend, we completed our field survey of La Rivière L’Isletta in the Port Glaud district. In addition to collecting water samples, we are using various scientific instruments to gather crucial data about the rivers:

🌍 A handheld GPS is used to mark the geographical locations of our survey sites along each river. Accessing the upper course of the rivers often involves a small hike so having a marked route is useful!

🌡️ A waterproof probe is used to measure the temperature and pH of the river water. These are two key variables, known to impact the rate of microplastic degradation.

💧 A water velocity meter is used to measure the flowing speed of the river. This will fluctuate across the year, largely based on rainfall. The water velocity probe also has a graduated pole which allows us to measure the river’s depth simultaneously.

📏 Finally, a transect tape is used to measure the width of the river. For this, one of us must wade across the river to reach the opposite bank. We take extra care to avoid falling into the water!

#rivers #freshwater #riverresearch #freshwaterresearch taken in Port Glaud by @theoceanproject.sey

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a year ago

📣 We are excited to announce we have officially begun our field sampling for our Commonwealth Blue Charter-funded project ‘Investigating Rivers as a Source of Marine Litter on Mahe’!

🏞️ Over the next year, we will be collecting water samples and environmental measurements from three rivers across the island (in Belombre, Anse Royale & Port Glaud), representing systems that run through either residential, agricultural or pristine land.

🔬 Water samples will then be sieved and filtered to allow the examination of collected microplastics at different size categories. This research is the first of its kind in Seychelles, and will improve our understanding of both freshwater systems and plastic pollution.

#freshwaterresearch #plasticpollution #microplastics #rivers taken in Seychelles Island, East Africa by @theoceanproject.sey

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a year ago

🛳️ TOP recently attended a validation workshop presenting the findings of the study ‘Direct Economic and Specific Environmental Impact Assessment of the cruise activities in Seychelles’. The study was funded by SeyCCAT and conducted by the @sey_sustainable_tourism, @universityofseychelles BERI and @mascontour. In early 2025, face-to-face surveys were conducted with 410 cruise passengers arriving in Port Victoria, to better understand the financial benefits of cruises docking in the Seychelles. The presentation revealed that:

• 🏝️ Over 40% of the cruise passengers came ashore for <4 hours, and of them, less than half stated they were ‘highly likely’ to return to the Seychelles.
• 💵 On-shore visitors spent an average of $63.06 - $116.15, highlighting their low spending compared to other forms of tourists. In fact, over 70% of the cruise passengers did not incur any additional expenses apart from their organised trip.

🇸🇨 Local participants (including authorities, environmental NGOs, hospitality, excursion and retail providers) also took part in a survey concerning their views about the ecological impacts of cruise ships in the Seychelles:

• 🚮 The majority believed that cruise ships pose an ecological issue due their greenhouse gas emissions, anchoring, as well as the large amount of waste water and trash that needs to be discharged (typically in the docking country).
• 🚫 Participants recommended several mitigation measures against these ecological impacts including docking approval based on environmental criteria and passenger capacity, enhancement of biosecurity measures, enforcement of local environmental regulations and conduction of water quality tests.

🌱 To ensure the longevity of Seychelles’ ecosystems and economy, it is evident that we must prioritize sustainable, low-impact tourism over forms of mass of tourism that yield comparatively lower financial returns at a higher environmental cost. taken in Seychelles Island, East Africa by @theoceanproject.sey

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a year ago

🗞️ An article published earlier this week by @todayinseychelles highlights the findings of a scientific study titled ‘The Global Footprint of Drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (dFADs)’. The study reveals some alarming figures, emphasising the challenges in effectively mitigating the impacts of dFADs at the global scale.

🎣 Since the 1970s, the total global catch of tropical tunas has steadily risen from 1 to ~ 4.5 million metric tons per year, and over 30% of this is currently caught using dFADs. A primary concern about the overuse of these devices is their high selectivity for juveniles, which can ultimately lead to growth overfishing, population collapse and economic losses. The study included an in-depth analysis of the size composition of dFAD tuna catches across the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and found that over 90% of yellowfin and bigeye tuna caught are immature.

📉 DFADs are known to have drifted through the waters of 157 countries and territories, and while there has been a continuous RISE in buoy deployments, the number of devices being retrieved is DECLINING. Shockingly, a dFAD tracking program in the Western Pacific estimates a loss rate of ~ 90%!

🌍 While some progress has been made in addressing the detrimental impacts of dFADs, the focus has mainly been on changing their design (to non-entangling, biodegradable materials) rather than limiting the number being released at sea. Given the clear evidence that they contribute to severe population losses and ecosystem damage, it is essential to develop an integrated and stepwise management approach that tackles all dFAD life stages, emphasising increased accountability from fisheries.

🌐 Link to study: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads2902

#FADs #dFADs #fishaggregatingdevices taken in Seychelles Island, East Africa by @theoceanproject.sey

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1

a year ago