Marine conservation centre well underway in Jaffna Sri Lanka
August 22, 2016
LK2 and LK4 Project Updates: Jan thru June 2016
LK2 will establish and equip a marine conservation centre in Jaffna District and develop a national communications network for dugongs and seagrass. IUCN assisted the Department of Wildlife Conservation to establish this Marine Management Unit.
In this period the site for the construction of the marine conservation centre was chosen and its feasibility inspected. A Marine Conservation Unit to handle all dugong and seagrass conservation activities was officially established within the DWC and the required manpower hired.
IUCN (LK4) supported LK2 capacity building and delivered a training to the officers of the Marine Conservation Unit of the Department of Wildlife Conservation to develop their capacity for monitoring of seagrass/coral reefs and associated resources.
A Marine Sector Conservation Plan was developed, which is an overall plan of marine sector conservation. Training needs of DWC were assessed (a summary presented to PCT) and two trainings were organised by IUCN (LK4) for DWC officers in diving and snorkelling to be applied for dugong and seagrass research as well as marine conservation in general.
The establishment of a communication network for on-time information collection of dugong (sightings, distribution, etc.) and seagrass information was initiated through the development of a concept for a mobile application and identification of the partnering institutions. A concept of the application was presented to the PCT.
Marine mammal tourism guidelines were drafted.