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Kilili: Turtle recovery grant funded
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) announced Friday that the Commonwealth is receiving a second year of funding for projects to support the recovery of endangered green and hawksbill sea turtles.
All together for a three-year grant period, the CNMI Department of Lands and Natural Resources has been awarded $248,612. Friday’s continuation grant is for $95,562.
“Every generation is responsible for caring for the environmental resources that have been handed down to us,” Sablan said, “and responsible for passing along to those who come after an environment in better condition than we received it.
“Protecting Marianas iconic species, like the green sea turtle and the hawksbill sea turtle, is something that our grandchildren and their grandchildren will thank us for.”
The Marianas project is one of 28 multi-year awards made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the Species Recovery Grant Program. Total funding for 2017 is $5.8 million.
The grants support the implementation of recovery actions for those species facing a very high risk of extinction.
The Division of Lands and Natural Resources is using its grant money to develop a hotline and hire a sea turtle conservation officer to increase response to, and enforcement of, stranding/poaching incidents. DLNR is also working on public service announcements and an elementary school education curriculum to help reduce poaching of sea turtles.
Harvest of green and hawksbill turtles still occurs in CNMI at unknown levels.
Also announced Friday was funding for year one of a three-year award to Guam’s Department of Agriculture for sea turtle recovery and to Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources for conservation and management of false killer whales and other endangered cetaceans. (PR)
