Winners of the Naucrates Photographer of the Year Competition
2006

In occasion of the Fifth Annual Meeting, hold at Castello di Santa Margherita, in Cori (LT-Italy) on the 7 October 2006, pictures were exposed for two days in the room where the meeting was conducted. A total of 21 pictures of the Category “The Forest”, 23 pictures of the Category “Volunteers, Schools and villagers” and 18 pictures of the Category “The Sea” participated at the competition. Participants of the competition were: Ilse Velkar, Tim Shouten, Matt Froment, Katie Jones, Sharman Carr, Mathilde de Bree, Linda Mulder, Alessandra de Lucia, Mariolina Din, Ray Sheperd, John Boylan, Kit Petersen.  Members who attended the meeting were invited to choose one favourite for each category and vote for the Premio Tartaruga d’Oro (winner of Category 1 “The Sea”), Premio Mangrovia d’Oro ( winner of category 2 “The forest”), Premio Volontario d’Oro (winner of Category 3 “Volunteers, school and village”). Naucrates Members Board selected the winner of Naucrates Photographer of the Year 2006 of each category.
At the end of the meeting winners were announced as follow:
Premio Tartaruga d’Oro (Cat.1 “The Sea”): ILSE VELKAR
 Premio Mangrovia d’Oro (Cat. 2 “The forest”): RAY SHEPERD
Premio Volontario d’Oro (Cat. 3 “Volunteers, school and village”): LESLEY RUSSEL
 Naucrates Photographer of the Year 2006 of Cat.1: TIM SHOUTEN
Naucrates Photographer of the Year 2006 of Cat. 2: LINDA MULDER
Naucrates Photographer of the Year 2006 of Cat. 3: MATT FROMENT

WINNERS RECEIVED A PLAGUE AND A PRIZE GENTLY DONATED BY FERRINO (www.ferrino.it)

 Naucrates would like to thank you all the participants for having participated to this new initiative, that allowed us to collect different images concerning the work in Thailand.

Naucrates would like to thank FERRINO for having sponsored the initiative sending prizes like back pack, bags for cameras, etc that are all very useful for people that work on the field for the Nature.

Naucrates invited you all to go our and take pictures to participate to the next initiative!

Naucrates Annual Meeting 2006
HOW WAS IT?

Naucrates Annual meeting is not only a meeting of two hours among members talking about what Naucrates has done and what Naucrates will do, BUT it is a weekend in Italy during which activities are planned for the participants to enjoy the area of Cori.

The participants, landed in Ciampino airport and they reached (some independently with their own rented car some with Naucrates taxi) the Castello of Santa Margherita. The accommodation consists in apartments in a castle located at the top of small hill surrounded by ancient olive trees. On Saturday morning the alarm clock was scheduled at 9 in the morning to go and visit Norma archaeological site. After a guided visit (by a local person and translated by Monica), the group went back to the castle for an Italian panino lunch. The sunny day, continued with the meeting in the sala of the castello, where the Naucrates Photographer Competition Exhibition was set. Monica Aureggi presented, with a power point presentation, the activities and the final account of the year. The participants were involved in discussing about future plan of Naucrates. It was decided to continue the Conservation Project at Phra Thong island, to start investigating on how to develop new programme in Italy on sustainable tourism, organic farming and environmental education and to purchase a vehicles to conduct different activities.

After the meeting Tim, showed a DVD: he spent 3 months on the island in 2006 filming different moments of the project, he put together all the images creating a fascinating DVD including all what happened from volunteers parties to nest hatching on the beach! The afternoon ended with the announcement of the winners of the Photographer of the Year Competition 2006! A natural aperitivo, made of fresh prickly fichs, was served at the castle before dinner. The group moved then to the restaurant where a huge Italian dinner was served…..then after few more drinks...we went to sleep.

The following morning, the alarm clock rung at 10: all ready for a guided walk in the village of Cori. Cristiana organized a nice walk to illustrate important historical sites of the village ….once the group was back at the castle they were able to devour...a big plate of pasta with pesto and fresh tomatoes, gently cooked by Gigio and Cristiana! People then started to leave…. Three intense days, a combination of Italian life style, Italian food, turtle conservation, Thai memories, meeting friends, and plan the future of a group that believe in conservation and in keeping people with the same believes together!

SUGGESTION FROM NAUCRATES MEMBER BOARD: keep yourself free for a weekend in Italy in October 2007!

As you might remember in March 2006, an article with the title: Green Turtle a victim of post-tsunami aid? Was published on the Bangkok Post and then, reported on our newsletter.

The story is about a green turtle that was caught by a fish cage and discovered by Naucrates volunteers. From this episode and other observations, Naucrates think that the amount of fishing equipment available now is greater than before the tsunami, at least on the small area surrounding the island of Phra Thong. On the island squid and fish cages were made by local people in huge quantity and they are now utilized without following any sustainable criteria. Fishing has always been the main activity of local people, but as the sea resources are decreasing year by year, in particular sea turtles, a proper management should be applied.  For this reason, Naucrates has planned a new study in order to investigate on the interaction between artisanal fishing equipment and turtles (in particular juveniles turtles). Naucrates researchers will interview local fishermen and they will go onboard to check and estimate the impact of their fishing methods. In addition to the investigation, awareness will be conducted in the small fishermen communities of the island. Once, an idea of the impact is known, a proper management could be applied to avoid exploitation of the natural resources in the sea.  Changed fishing practices can help conserve the population, which is already dwindling at an alarming rate. Scientists predict the extinction of sea turtles along the Thai Andaman Sea coast by year 2010.

On the 21 October 2006, the British Chelonian Group (BCG) invited Monica Aureggi at their Annual Symposium at the Chester’s Zoo (Chester, UK). The collaboration between Naucrates and BCG started after the tsunami, when the BCG decided to give their contribution providing funds to purchase a video projector to conduct environmental education in local schools in Thailand and other countries. Monica Aureggi, contributed with an article with title “Status of Sea Turtles in Thailand” for the Testudo Journal 2006. At the BCG Symposium a speech of about an hour was given to illustrate the current situation of sea turtle conservation in Thailand. The experience of 11 years of work in the country allowed Monica to provide a general picture of different programmes, problems and achievements concerning this subject.  Other speaker at the symposium talked about tortoises, diseases, international and national trade of exotic species. In the audience six Naucrates members (Claudio, Lesley, John, Katie, Katie’s friend, Lisa) attended the speech showing again a great interest in supporting Naucrates in every where! The public showed enthusiasm concerning Thailand sea turtle conservation asking many questions

OUR MESSAGE ARRIVED TO THE DUTCH TURTLE CLUB
NEDERLANDSE SCHILDPADDEN VERENIGING

Last Saturday November 4th, I gave my presentation for the Dutch turtle club and it went very well. There was an audience of about 180 persons and I gave a 1-hour presentation. The people really liked the subject: fieldwork with sea turtles on an tropical island. I talked about the work we did as volunteers, all the daily actions, completed with many nice pictures of the island. I also gave a short introduction about Naucrates, Ko Phra Thong and the (consequences of) the tsunami. I have got a lot of nice reactions. The people were very enthusiastic and positive about this kind of field work. Although most people work with or breed land turtles or freshwater turtles, they are all turtle-lovers and very concerned about the future of sea turtles. A few people did this kind of voluntary work in the past. I have spread the address of the Naucrates website around, so that interested people can have a look there. And some were very enthusiastic, who knows one of them (or more) will work on GBB next year!
The Nederlandse Schildpadden Vereniging (Dutch turtle club) has a website: www.trionyx.nl.
It was very nice to talk to so many persons about the sea turtle work. I am still looking back on a great time on Ko Phra Thong and I would love to do it again. Anyway the sea turtle has a special place in my heart !!
 

NAUCRATES ANNOUNCEMENTS

Naucrates is looking for a Thai/English speaker with experience with children for a three month job in the schools of Ko Phra Thong.

The Conservation Project in Thailand will start on the 6 January 2007. Details on how to participate are at www.naucrates.org.
Naucrates is raising funds to pursue a 4-wheel motorbike to monitor the long beach of Phra Thong: 6.000 EUROS are needed…
NEW BLUE Naucrates CAPS are available for 10 euros!