Advancing Seahorse Conservation in Sri Lanka – Workshop report and next steps

Samara Polwatta, ,

To help build Sri Lanka’s first national assessment of seahorses, last year our PhD candidate and researcher Samara Polwatta led a multi-sector workshop on seahorse conservation, bringing together 20 stakeholders from government agencies, NGOs, academia, and diving clubs. Given the few published reports on Sri Lanka’s seahorses, it was wonderful to discover that quite a bit of information was actually available. The workshop report, Advancing Seahorse Conservation in Sri Lanka, is now out.

The workshop was facilitated by Nishan Perera, Director of Blue Resources Trust, and used Project Seahorse’s 5-Question Framework to help evaluate the threats to wild populations, the effectiveness of current management, and the actual impact of these actions on species conservation.

Highlights from the report include:

  • Documentation of the presence of six seahorse species in Sri Lanka, most closely tied to seagrass habitats in the north and northwest.
  • Identifying pressures on these species, such as illegal bottom trawling, ornamental fish collection, and coastal development, as well as rising threats from climate change and pollution events.
  • Gaps in the enforcement and monitoring of mechanized bottom trawling and exportation of wild-caught seahorses in Sri Lanka, despite the restrictions in place under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

This report is more than just a record of discussions – it is a blueprint for action that Samara is bringing back with her to Sri Lanka this month.

Over the next few weeks, Samara will be conducting field surveys around the coast of her own country, looking at seahorse biology, fisheries, and trade. She will also be promoting iSeahorse, our global citizen science project with iNaturalist, encouraging everybody to contribute observations and help create a strong network of seahorse advocates in Sri Lanka.

Read the full report here: Workshop Report – Advancing Seahorse Conservation in Sri Lanka

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