Rescue & Protect Sea Turtles in Thailand and Asia

Hello Donors and Friends,

We’re in the middle of a very exciting time on the shark conservation project. By the time this goes to print, we’ll have finished our first big fundraising event. (Hopefully just the first of many!)

It’s called “The Amazing Scavenger Race,” and it’s a competitive photo scavenger hunt around Ban Nam Khem, where we’re based, and the nearby towns of Bang Niang and Khao Lak.Volunteers are split into groups, each led by a GVI staff member and each group is given riddles, clues and tasks to accomplish in the set time frame. It’s a long, hot day, and no easy task, especially as teams aren’t allowed to use private transportation. That walk from the Koh Kho Khao pier to the ancient ruins is no joke, and hopefully all the teams treat themselves to an ice cream stop when they’ve finished!

Each team has a shark mascot and will style their team name, flag, and chant from their shark. Their shark can also inspire costumes for the day (don’t worry, those pictures will surface after the event!). For now, here are a few of the event organisers, staff members Maggie & Joe, doing a dry run of the day to iron out kinks (checking items off the list such as a ferry ride across the channel, a frangipani flower, and a team shot with our driver Thit).

The day comes to a close at one of our favourite restaurants, with a celebration and prizes awarded. I’ll let you know how much we raised in our next report, but at writing, only 1 week in, we’ve already raised about 500 pounds across all our fundraising platforms. I know that number is going to have sky-rocketed by the time we’ve finished our fundraiser, and I’m so thankful to all of our donors, old and new, who have contributed to that!

We’ve been extremely successful with our whale shark diving Code of Conduct posters—they’ve been distributed locally as well as in Phuket, and this coming season will see them in the diving destinations of Koh Tao and Koh Lanta, as well as in some of the tour companies near our home. However, the poster campaign will be put on hold during the low season when the majority of the dive shops are closed.

In the meantime, we’ll be working with Shark Guardian as they embark on a more emphatic phase of their movement to rid restaurant menus of shark fin soup. Shark finning is a huge problem, and such a senseless waste of such amazing creatures and we’re very keen to help out with this campaign as much as possible.

Much of the money raised will be donated to Shark Guardian for their running costs, as they also run purely on volunteers, like travel costs to presentations, merchandise printing, and new marketing materials for the shark fin soup campaign. The remainder of the funds will stay with us to prepare for jumping back into the whale shark poster campaign. Stay tuned for updates on both campaigns, as well as information about the shark finning “industry” and how you can help.

Thanks, as always, for your continued support.

Sincerely,

GVI Phang Nga

Links:

• The Charitable Trust