The project came on stream after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the GMTCS and the National Parks Commission at the end of December last year.

This document allowed for the establishment of the museum, which houses a collection of artifacts related to the marine turtle and its environment. There is also data on the subject of marine turtle conservation.

Vice-Chairman of the society, Ms. Annette Arjoon, explained that the project was an initiative of Shell Antilles Guyana Limited, which has been supporting the work of the GMTCS over the past five years through generous donations of fuel for marine transport to Shell Beach.

At Monday's commissioning ceremony, she said the GMTCS has been working in five areas of conservation, one of which is environmental awareness and education.

She explained that during each month of the turtle-nesting season, which extends from March to August, the society conducts a turtle-awareness activity.

According to Arjoon, the nesting season of the year 2001was marked by the mounting of a replica portraying a baby leatherback turtle emerging from its shell. This replica now stands in front of Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel, Georgetown.

She said that with the GMTCS office being located in the building of Le Meridien Pegasus, scores of schoolchildren would visit her small office regularly to enquire about marine turtle conservation.

However, because of limited office space and an inadequate setting for environmental classes, Arjoon stated that she had to locate more suitable quarters so that the children would be more comfortably accommodated when they receive information about marine turtle conservation and related environmental matters.

In her quest to find a suitable location, she said she soon identified two unoccupied buildings at the back of the Botanic Gardens.

After the National Parks Commission agreed that the structures could be used, they were removed and re-sited closer to the front of the Gardens, which also 'houses' the Zoological Park.

Arjoon said the Botanic Gardens was the most appropriate choice for the museum project because some 30,000 persons visit the Gardens each month.

Ninety per cent of those persons visiting the Zoological Park are students, therefore the location is ideal for the establishment of the Marine Turtle Conservation Museum, she reasoned.

Companies which contributed to the museum project include the Bank of Nova Scotia, Gafsons, Readymix, BEV Enterprise, B&K International Construction, Mings Products and Services and the Demerara Shipping Company.

Arjoon expressed the view that if the society's relationship with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could be used as a template for future relations between the GMTCS and the National Parks Commission, then the society is on a good footing.

In her remarks at the commissioning ceremony, Ms. Inge Nathoo, General Manager of the National Parks Commission, explained that the role of the commission in setting up the GMTCS Museum was about building and strengthening a network.

"We see it as part of the collaboration of a conservation environment and all the other topical issues", she said.