Local Ocean Conservation (Watamu Turtle Watch)

Local Ocean Conservation (LOC) began in 1997, when a group of Watamu residents started patrolling the beaches day and night to protect nesting sea turtles, their eggs and hatchlings from poaching and beach development. That work became Watamu Turtle Watch, which still runs today. In 1998 it added a Bycatch & Release Programme with local fishers and the Kenya Wildlife Service, and in 2002 the organisation took the name Local Ocean to encourage people to care for their own stretch of coast.

Fishers who accidentally catch a turtle call LOC's 24-hour rescue line. The team assesses, measures, weighs and tags each turtle and, if it is healthy, releases it in the Watamu Marine National Park. LOC says more than 24,000 turtle rescues have been carried out through the programme. Sick and injured turtles go to its Turtle Rehabilitation Centre, opened in 2003, which has nine tanks, a treatment clinic and a quarantine area for turtles with fibropapillomatosis. More than 808 turtles have been treated there, for injuries from nets, hooks, spear guns and predators. Trained beach monitors also protect 50–100 nests a year in Watamu, and a further 100–150 on the south coast through Diani Turtle Watch.

Beyond turtles, LOC works with 26 local community groups, runs school and community education, restores mangroves (it has planted and monitored more than 235,000 mangrove seeds and seedlings) and helps communities develop sustainable incomes. Its Marine Information Centre on Turtle Bay Road welcomes around 2,000 visitors a year.

Visiting and helping: one-hour education tours of the centre, including the turtles recovering in rehabilitation, run Monday to Saturday (Monday afternoons only); booking is required and a minimum donation of KES 1,000 per person is asked. It also offers longer EcoVisits and internships. You can donate online through its own website (card or M-Pesa) or by bank transfer, or symbolically adopt a turtle.