ALDABRA deployment mission - September 2021

Located 1,150km southwest of Mahé and 400km north of Mayotte, Aldabra Atoll, which belongs to the Seychelles, is one of the four study sites for the IOT project.

Taking advantage of a supply mission in the Scaretted  Islands and then a collaboration mission between the French and Seychelles armed forces, equipment and three scientists (two from the Indian Ocean delegation of Ifremer and one from LIRMM) were taken on board the French Navy's multi-mission ship, the "Champlain", on 8 September in Mayotte, bound for Aldabra. The main objective of this mission, which lasted only three days on Aldabra, was to set up the LoRa reception station network and the satellite connection. The satellite station and two of the four LoRa stations were installed by the team with the support of agents from the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF), which manages the atoll, and part of the Champlain crew.

The members of the SIF on the island have also been trained to install the stations and have done it for the two remaining stations. The tagging of the ten juvenile sea turtles with IOT tags will be carried out directly by the SIF, which is used to and authorised to carry out this type of operation (see Newsletter # 4).