UPY 2025

UPY  Marine Conservation - Commended
'Leatherback Toddler'
Sirachai Arunrugstichai

In the past, the Andaman coast of Thailand was an important nesting site of the Leatherback in the eastern Indian Ocean, but they had long disappeared. Today they rarely coming up to nest, possibly due to various threats they are facing in this severely exploited water. But in the past few years, there have been new nestings, and the scientists at Phuket Marine Biological Centre take a small number of hatchlings to conduct help design a headstarting program, similarly to what had been successfully done for other turtle species, to give hatchlings better chance of survival in the wild in the hope that they may reach adulthood to replenish their population. I often collaborate with scientists here, so they invited me to observe this experiment. I did not take many shots to avoid disturbing the hatchlings, but captured this youngster being fed.

Judge's comment: A helping hand helps give this hatchling a better start, hopefully allowing to grown into a giant leatherback, the biggest turtle in the world.
- Alex Mustard