CURMA’s operations director Carlos Tamayo, 44, takes a basin full of baby olive ridley turtles to the beach to be released into the sea in San Juan, La Union, December 20, 2022. Set up in 2009, CURMA or Coastal Underwater Resource Management Actions, is leading the conservations programme around La Union beaches and has turned sea turtle poachers into its allies by offering them incentives and training, allowing it to save thousands of turtles and their eggs. “We talked to the poachers, and it turns out…(poaching) was just another means for them to earn a living,” said Tamayo. “They had no choice.” REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez
