Ten Years of Turtle Rescue and Research at Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu


Wednesday 18th of February 2026

Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu is also celebrating a decade of partnership with the Olive Ridley Project (ORP) honoring ten years of Maldives sea turtle conservation efforts. It shows that the partnership was a long-term decision by the resort to conserve the marine life and at the same time provide valuable learning experiences to the guests.

One of the important steps in this quest was made in 2017 with the launch of the first veterinary-based Marine Turtle Rescue Centre at Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu in the Maldives. The centre has since that time treated and released 152 injured sea turtles with a rehabilitation success rate of nearly 60 percent. The human related dangers had a significant impact on many of these turtles such as entanglement in marine waste materials and discarded fishing gear.

In addition to rescue and rehabilitation, the Olive Ridley Project has a significant use in the national research. The first National Red List Assessment of Threatened Species published in the Maldives in 2022 was based on long-term data gathering concerning nesting activity, population trends, and threats. Coco Collection has made nearly 3,500 of those records out of over 45,000 sea turtle encounters that have been documented in the country with the assistance of citizen scientists.

Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu can invite its guests to participate in conservation by taking part in weekly marine lectures, classroom lessons conducted by the resident Marine Educator, and offers the chance to see the rehabilitated turtles release back into the ocean.

Marine Turtle Rescue Centre has provided ten veterinary surgeons and trained 29 veterinary professionals in 12 countries in their Sea Turtle Veterinary Trainee Programme over the last ten years. This milestone is something that has made Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu demonstrate that conservation, education, and guest experiences can coexist.