From Campaign to Commitment: IKI Supports Baniata’s Restoration of Leatherback Turtle Hatcheries After Cyclone Maila

BANIATA, SOUTHERN WEATHER COAST OF RENDOVA ISLAND, WESTERN PROVINCE, SOLOMON ISLANDS: 17^th OCTOBER 2026

Two of the three turtle hatcheries that protect endangered leatherback turtle eggs at Baniata and nearby communities have been restored after Cyclone Maila, and the third is on track for completion by the end of October. The Islands Knowledge Institute (IKI) is supporting the work through its Melanesian Ocean Reserve (MOR) Community Support initiative.

In 2025, the Baniata community welcomed the IKI team working under the MOR media campaign. Community members shared their culture, their people and their connection with the sea through filming and photography, helping tell a wider story about the ocean and the communities of Melanesia who depend on it.

IKI believes that kind of contribution deserves a response that goes beyond the campaign. When the MOR team returned to present the photographs, it asked Baniata how the community would like its contribution to be acknowledged. The community chose to restore its turtle hatcheries.

The support is a gesture of appreciation and reciprocity, not payment for filming. The community set the priority, and IKI responded.

The hatcheries at Baniata, Retavo and Havilla, along the southern weather coast of Rendova Island, give rangers a protected place to keep leatherback eggs during the nesting season, which runs from October to March. During an IKI visit on 13^th October 2026, restoration at Baniata and Retavo was complete. Work at Havilla is expected to finish by the end of October.

“There are three hatcheries along the weather coast of Rendova: one at Baniata and the other two at Retavo and Havilla,” said Mr. Johnson Haron, head ranger of Baniata.

Mr. Haron and his ranger team bring more than 15 years of turtle conservation experience. They monitor nesting activity, move eggs to the hatcheries at comparable depths, and label each batch by its expected hatching date. The IKI team met the rangers for a tok stori and held some of the approximately 100 hatchlings currently in their care. The rangers reported more leatherback nesting along the Baniata coastline this year, though continued monitoring is needed to understand longer-term trends.

Rangers, church members and other residents helped carry timber and materials to the sites.

“The support came at the right time and has been a great help to our conservation work,” Mr. Haron said. “Church members, community members, and the rangers have all contributed by carrying materials and timber for the two hatcheries that have been completed.”

Once Havilla is finished, all three hatcheries will support the rangers’ work through the nesting season: monitoring nesting turtles, protecting eggs and helping hatchlings survive. IKI looks forward to handing over the three hatcheries to the community once the final one is complete.

IKI Program Manager Mr. John Maefasimaoma thanked Mr. Haron for the progress so far and praised the community’s efforts.

“I thank Mr. Haron and the rangers for the progress made in restoring the two hatcheries, and I am encouraged by the work the Baniata rangers and the community have put into preparing them,” Mr. Maefasimaoma said. “This support recognizes the community’s contribution to the MOR work in 2025. We look forward to handing over all three hatcheries once the final one is complete, and to working with the Baniata community on any future partnership.”

Through the MOR Community Support initiative, IKI is recognizing Baniata’s contribution while helping sustain the knowledge, cooperation and commitment needed to protect leatherback turtles for future generations.

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