Turtles Preservation 3

Age:         over 18  

Language:   English / Japanese

Volunteers:  5 (each)

Sponsor:     NPO Yakushima Umigame kan

Terminal:    Fukuoka Airport, Kansai International Airport (Domestic: Kagoshima Airport)

Station:                Miyano-ura harbor　(20 min by bus)

Background:

Yakushima Island is known to be one of the first acknowledged natural World Heritages Sites in Japan. The island is the northern limit for green sea turtle eggs hatch in wild, and is also the biggest area of the kind in Japan. Host organization is the only group which is based in Yakushima, among the ones that deal with sea turtle projects. The current staff numbers only four. Due to the funding shortage, the organization’s continuous activity in future remains unclear, whereas there is no doubt the population of green sea turtle will decrease if the activity discontinues. About 50,000 eggs were successfully transplanted by the project last year. Around 150,000 eggs or baby turtles were either washed away by waves, or crashed to death by walking tourists treading over the nest holes, on the other hand. The funding from Japanese government is so slow to come, that the activity is kept going by funding from American researchers. But as the economic situation in the USA is no better, funding is also decreasing. The project has received many volunteers from abroad - UK and Mongol - in the past. Last year Patagonia (a sportswear company) sent their staff here as one of the company’s trainings.  

Work: Very challenging physical work.

We look for a physically strong volunteer for this project!

・Research work: to watch and guard turtle eggs hatch at night.  Duration 18:30 – 22:30.

・Transplanting eggs: every year around 50,000 eggs are transplanted to avoid damages from visiting tourists in the area.

・Follow-up check. (when needed)  Duration 7:00 – 8:00

・Attending the lectures at Umigame-Kan

Accommodation:

Volunteers will sleep on the floor of the building of the host organization.

Facilities:  

A washer, a shower, a kitchen, a Japanese-style toilet and air-conditioning are available. The internet is only accessible in the office.   

Meals:

Volunteers are asked to cook for themselves. 

What to bring:

1. A sleeping bag with mattress is a must item. (There is no bedding in Umigame-Kan. To sleep direct on the floor would be too uncomfortable)
2. A wristwatch with clear readability and waterproof
3. Rain gear with jacket and pants in quiet color, such as grey or blue, with moisture permeability and water-proof.
4. A vest with chest pockets to put a transceiver in.
5. A backpack of 20 liters capacity with a cover, to accommodate any documents or materials needed for the research work.
6. A pair of rubber boots which cover up to below the knees.
7. Work clothes with long-sleeved shirt and pants (jeans not permitted). As clothes get easily dirty in the course of the work such as picking gavages on the beach, mowing, and so on, you may need several spare clothes if you prefer to change often.
8. A cap
9. Two penlights that hung from the neck

• Avoid strong LED, or any similar type of light. Penlight with bulb is preferable.
• Would be better if they are waterproof.
• A type that uses AA size battery or AAA battery is easy to replace batteries.  Advisable to prepare a spare bulb.

1. Insurance policy
2. Working gloves.

A swimming wear, sunscreens and toiletries, towels and any other items you think needed for your daily life.

Note:

Above mentioned items (especially from 1 to 7) are minimum needed items for working on this project. If you failed to bring any of those, you won’t be asked to join in the project. Please make sure you prepared everything necessary before you arrive at the place. There is no shop near in the local site where you can get those items.

Participation fee: 4500 Japanese YEN

We decided to collect participation fee especially in this project. The reason behind is, the host organization had to spend most of their funding for the protection of the sea turtles and there is not much left to receive international volunteers in a proper manner. The participation fee will be used to procure food and daily items for the volunteers during their stay. The leader will collect this participation fee in JPY. Please prepare exchanging for yen before you arrive. We thank you for your understanding in advance.

Location:

Yakushima lies to the south of Kyusyu in Kagoshima Prefecture. It is 2-3 hours by high speed ferry boat, and 35 minutes by plane from Kagoshima.

URL:  NPO Yakushima Umigame kan (Japanese) http://www.umigame-kan.org/

      UNESCO World Heritage Center - Yakushima - http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/662

Remarks:

The activities to protect sea turtles are regulated under the natural protection law of the Ministry of the Environment, and the ordinance of Kagoshima prefecture. Umigame-Kan is an authorized entity.It would be advisable if volunteers understand very basic words of greetings in Japanese language.

A leader will meet you at the Kagoshima harbor. You are asked to bear all the transportation cost from Kagoshima to the site. From Kagoshima all volunteers together with the leader take a boat to Yakushima island (Miyanoura harbor). The boat fare is approximately 7,700 JPY one way (as of 15/05/2012). It takes 2-3 hours.From MIyanoura harbor to Nagata (the local site), you take a bus. The bus fare is 890JPY (as of 15/05/2012) and it takes 0.5 hour.