 MEMBER OF THE MONTH
September 2005
Mustapha Aksissou
Country: Morocco
Occupation: Researcher
Specialty: Marine Ecology
Best part about my job: Being able to contribute to the protection of marine turtles, either through rehabilitation of stranded injured turtles or working with fishermen in NW Morocco to reduce mortality due to incidental capture. I also enjoy publishing pieces in local newspapers about marine turtle conservation.
Biggest challenges I
face: Reconciling conservation and the realities of society (e.g. the lack of environmental education, the fragile economic well-being of fisherman, personal competition amongst conservationists, etc.)
The most unusual or
exciting thing that's happened to me while working in the field: I helped treat a small loggerhead turtle that was found stranded and completely covered in oil. Following successful rehabilitation, we were able to release it back into the ocean near where it originally stranded.
Why I like being a member
of the MTSG: Share information and experiences with the members of the group and also other conservation workers in general.
Turtle researcher /
conservationist I most admire: Dimitris Margaritoulis, Matthew Godfrey, Manjula Tiwari, etc.
When I'm not working on turtles I like to: Take walks along the coast and travel internationally so I can meet people from different countries.
Ten years from now, I hope I will be doing: Conservation worker
Relevant links to find out more about me and my work: Google Search
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