Turtle hatchery established in North Sulawesi
The North Sulawesi Watersports Association has established a turtle hatchery in Bunaken Marine Park on a section of beach where the turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. The chances of survival for young turtles are quite slim and the NSWA hopes that the establishment of the hatchery will boost the odds for them. It takes 35 years before a turtle is sexually mature and once fertilized the female returns to the beach on which she was born to lay her eggs. They can lay several clutches a year and have been known to swim right across the Pacific in order to return to the beach of their birth.