Saving Phuket's Sea Turtles: The Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation

In response to this crisis, Thailand's Wildlife Preservation and Protection Act 2019 elevated leatherback turtles to "preserved" species status — a more critical designation than "protected" — an acknowledgment of just how urgent the situation had become.

The most striking glimpse of what recovery could look like came unexpectedly in 2020. When COVID-19 emptied Phuket's beaches of tourists, researchers discovered 11 leatherback nests along the coastline — the highest number in 20 years and the first recorded nests in the area for five consecutive years prior (according to Kongkiat Kittiwatanawong, Director of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre, in a report published in The Guardian). That natural experiment confirmed what conservationists had long suspected: given space and quiet, the turtles will return.

How Did the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation Begin?

The MKMTF was founded in 2002 during the opening ceremonies of the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa, when Minor Hotels (the parent company of Anantara) made a founding donation of US$45,000 to establish the organisation. The hotel's location directly on Mai Khao Beach gave it both a direct stake in the beach's ecological future and an immediate platform for engaging guests in conservation.

The partnership model proved powerful from the start. JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa, Marriott Vacation Club International, and Anantara Hotels and Resorts continue to provide annual funding for the foundation's conservation units. The Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC) and the Royal Thai Navy serve as essential operational partners, providing hatchery facilities and technical expertise for egg incubation and hatchling care.

In May 2014, the MKMTF became an official IUCN member — a designation that lends the foundation international credibility and connects its work to a global network of conservation scientists and policy experts. Today, the foundation operates with five beach patrol officers, one coordinator, and one CSR manager. It is a lean team, and its impact is considerable.

How Does the MKMTF Protect Sea Turtle Nests From Egg to Ocean?

The foundation's conservation work follows the turtle through its entire lifecycle, from the first detected signs of a nesting female to the moment her offspring reach open water.

Nesting Beach Patrols

During nesting season — November through February — MKMTF officers conduct nightly patrols across Mai Khao and surrounding beaches. The work is methodical and unglamorous: hours of walking in darkness, scanning for tracks in the sand, waiting. When a nesting female is found, officers record data, assess the site, and determine whether the eggs can safely incubate in place. Where development or human disturbance makes in-situ incubation too risky, eggs are carefully relocated.

Egg Rescue and the Hatchery Programme

Rescued eggs are transferred to secure hatcheries operated by the PMBC and Royal Thai Navy, where they incubate under close supervision for approximately 45 to 60 days. During this period, sand temperature is carefully monitored — cooler temperatures produce more males, warmer temperatures more females, a biological quirk that makes climate change a particular concern for long-term population balance.

Six CCTV cameras livestream nest sites to the Thai public, serving double duty as both a security tool and an awareness campaign. Once hatched, the young turtles are raised in nursery tanks for approximately 12 months, until they reach a length of 20 centimetres and a weight of around two kilograms — large enough to give them a fighting chance against blacktip reef sharks and other predators. Every turtle released is fitted with a metal flipper tag and an internal microchip for lifetime scientific monitoring.

Marine Animal Stranding Rescue

Running in parallel to the hatchery programme is the MKMTF's stranding rescue project, which responds to reports of injured or entangled turtles along the Andaman coastline. Turtles found missing flippers, suffering from net entanglement, or weakened by plastic ingestion are brought to the PMBC for rehabilitation — a process that can take up to a year. The foundation's Shelter and Education Centre at the JW Marriott Phuket is home to several resident turtles who cannot safely return to the wild, including Tommy, a blind green turtle.

The centre is open to the public Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 3pm, with no entry fee. Visitors may occasionally assist with feeding.

Annual Turtle Release Events

The most public-facing moment in the MKMTF's calendar is its annual release programme, held during the non-monsoon months of November through April. The flagship event takes place around Songkran — the Thai New Year in April — at the JW Marriott Phuket, where guests and visitors can sponsor the release of 12- to 15-month-old turtles (8,000 THB per turtle) or juvenile bamboo sharks (5,000 THB), an apex predator whose presence helps regulate reef fish populations and maintain coral health. The Laguna Phuket annual release serves as a companion event, drawing increasing public participation each year.

These releases are genuinely extraordinary experiences. When a turtle is placed where the waves meet the sand, it responds instantly — flippers working, navigating by magnetism back towards the open sea. For many guests, it is the most affecting moment of their entire trip to Thailand.

How Does the MKMTF Engage the Wider Community in Conservation?

The foundation's leadership understands that lasting conservation cannot be driven by a handful of officers on a beach. It requires community ownership — schools, local businesses, universities, government bodies, and individual citizens all taking a stake in the outcome.

To that end, the MKMTF runs a wide range of outreach and education initiatives:

• Educational workshops for schools and universities across Phuket, covering marine ecology, the threats facing sea turtles, and practical conservation responses
• Beach and reef cleaning operations, creating cleaner nesting environments while building environmental consciousness among participants
• Mangrove tree planting programmes, restoring coastal ecosystems beyond the immediate beach environment
• Community recycling programmes, targeting plastic waste — one of the most direct threats to marine life
• The Mai Khao Marine Turtle Fun Run & Mini Marathon, now in its 13th year and co-sponsored by partners including Andy's Scuba Diving, which raises vital funds for nesting beach patrols and the hatchery programme

Guests staying at the foundation's hotel partners — JW Marriott, Anantara, and affiliates — are regularly invited to join beach cleans and release events, turning a leisure stay in Phuket into something with genuine, lasting purpose.

What Is the MKMTF's Vision for the Future of Sea Turtle Conservation in Phuket?

Progress is real. Community participation is growing. Nesting activity increases during quieter tourism periods. The foundation is actively expanding, with plans to appoint a second coordinator to manage its growing educational outreach programme — a signal that the demand for its work is accelerating, not stalling.

The broader vision extends beyond individual nests and individual turtles. The MKMTF aims to sustain the entire Andaman coastal ecosystem — reef health, water quality, coastal vegetation, and biodiversity — so that Mai Khao Beach remains viable as a nesting sanctuary not just for this generation, but for those that follow. The foundation's work also aligns with the Green Fins initiative, which works to reduce the environmental impact of diving and snorkelling operations in the region, and contributes to wider Net Zero goals across Southeast Asian tourism.

Climate change looms as the defining challenge of the next chapter. Rising sea temperatures affect both nesting beach conditions and the marine food chains that turtles depend on. Ocean acidification threatens the reef ecosystems that shelter juvenile turtles as they grow. The MKMTF's long-term effectiveness will depend in part on its ability to integrate climate resilience into its conservation strategies — work that its IUCN membership and growing research partnerships are well positioned to support.

A Beach Worth Fighting For

Return, in your mind, to that pre-dawn moment on Mai Khao Beach. The leatherback emerging from the water. The slow, deliberate journey across the sand. The ancient, unchanged ritual. With Phuket's coastline under pressure from all directions, that moment is precious — and precarious.

From a founding hotel donation of US$45,000 to a nationally recognised, IUCN-affiliated conservation organisation, the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation has built something remarkable: a model for how tourism, hospitality, and conservation can work together rather than against each other.

Whether you visit the Shelter and Education Centre, sponsor a hatchling at the Songkran release, join a beach clean, or simply choose to stay at a hotel partner that champions this mission — every act of engagement matters. Every hatchling that reaches the ocean is a victory. And every visitor who witnesses it becomes part of the story.

To donate directly to the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation, contributions can be made via Siam Commercial Bank, Account No. 035-236501-7. The Shelter and Education Centre at JW Marriott Phuket is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 3pm, and entry is free.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is turtle nesting season in Phuket?

Sea turtle nesting season in Phuket runs from November through February. This is when MKMTF officers conduct their most intensive nightly beach patrols along Mai Khao and surrounding beaches within the Sirinath National Marine Park.

How can I see sea turtles in Mai Khao, Phuket?

The most accessible way to see and interact with sea turtles in Mai Khao is by visiting the MKMTF's Shelter and Education Centre at the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa. The centre is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 3pm, with free entry. Annual release events — particularly the Songkran release in April — also offer the opportunity to witness turtles being returned to the Andaman Sea.

How do I donate to the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation?

Direct donations can be made to the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation via Siam Commercial Bank, Account No. 035-236501-7. You can also sponsor a turtle or bamboo shark release during the annual Songkran event (8,000 THB per turtle; 5,000 THB per bamboo shark), or contribute through the annual Turtle Fun Run.

How many sea turtle species are found in the Andaman Sea?

Four sea turtle species are primarily found in the Andaman Sea and monitored by the MKMTF: the leatherback, the green turtle, the hawksbill, and the olive ridley. All four species are classified as either vulnerable or endangered by the IUCN. Thailand's waters are also occasionally visited by loggerhead turtles, though these are rare.

What happened to turtle nesting during the COVID-19 lockdowns in Thailand?

During the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, when tourist numbers collapsed and beaches emptied, researchers recorded 11 leatherback nests along Phuket's coastline — the highest number in 20 years, according to Kongkiat Kittiwatanawong, Director of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (The Guardian, 2020). No such nests had been found in the five years prior. The event demonstrated clearly that reduced human disturbance has a direct and measurable positive impact on turtle nesting activity.

Is the MKMTF affiliated with any international conservation organisations?

Yes. The Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation has been an official member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since May 2014. The IUCN affiliation connects the MKMTF to a global network of conservation experts and ensures its programmes are grounded in evidence-based best practice. The foundation's work also aligns with the Green Fins initiative, which promotes sustainable diving and snorkelling practices across Southeast Asia.