Of the seven species of marine turtles in the world five species come ashore to nest in Rekawa, the largest rookery in Sri Lanka. The most widespread form of sea turtle exploitation in Sri Lanka is the illegal poaching of turtle eggs. In 1996 a Sri Lankan organization initiated the in-situ marine turtle nest protection programme at Rekawa employing former egg poachers as the nest protectors. Gradually first “Turtle Night Watch Programme” was initiated at Rekawa as a sustainable income generation activity to continue the turtle nest protection programme. In 2012 the programme was completely handed over to the local nest protectors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they completely lost their income and struggled to continue the nest protection programme. Since May 2020, the Bio Conservation Society (BCSL) has been supporting the in-situ conservations programme and planning to continue for at least a couple of years until tourism fully recovers.