2012 • 27' • French
Director(s): Hervé Corbière • Producer(s): Grand Angle Productions • Coproducer(s): France Télévision • Format(s): HD
Kalami Taputu and his family are the only inhabitants of Mopelia, an isolated atoll in the Polynesian Windward Islands. They live exclusively from the sale of copra. For years Kalami has watched impotently as fishermen from Bora Bora or Maupiti come to poach turtles. On Moorea, Doctor Cecile Gaspar, a vet, runs a clinic set up in the Intercontinental Hotel that treats turtles sent to it from all over Polynesia -more than 160 turtles in 6 years. The Te Mana Ote Moana association, which she founded in 2004, conducts a major educational and tourist programme. In the field, one of the association’s biologists, Mathieu Petit, has developed an underwater census system: the Manta Tow. However, the most efficient way is to entrust the protection of their turtles to the inhabitants of the various islands of Polynesia. Since 2006, the island of Tikehau has exercised that choice. With financial assistance from the Ministry of the Environment, the island’s people have hired a turtle warden. His name is William Harrys and he’s 50. His job is to ensure the well being of the turtles that come to lay their eggs on the island.
