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In 2013, we awarded one of our flagship prizes for conservation leadership, the Whitley Award, to Zafer Kizilkaya. He was working to improve enforcement of coastal no-take zones (NTZs) in Gökova Bay, one of the most degraded bays in Turkey. With the goal of recovering fish stocks and biodiversity, Zafer trained members of the community to be marine rangers, patrolling the coast, reporting illegal activity and raising awareness about the state of the sea. We gave him £35,000 in funding to support that work; as a result, Zafer and his team saw fish populations increase, and developed a successful community-led enforcement scheme. 

Given his success, in 2015 we awarded Zafer a further £70,000 over two years to coordinate patrolling against illegal fishing and trawling in the NTZs, consolidating his efforts in Gökova. Zafer worked alongside local fishers to implement more sustainable practices, and initiated a campaign to improve fishers’ livelihoods by targeting harmful invasive species. 

As a result of his work, marine biomass has risen by an astounding 800 per cent since 2010, fishers’ income has increased four-fold and Mediterranean monk seals, which are among the world’s most endangered marine mammals, have returned to the bay. Zafer’s efforts clearly demonstrate that well-managed marine reserves can restore ecosystems and deliver results for people and wildlife. 

In 2017, we awarded Zafer the Whitley Gold Award, which included £50,000 in funding to scale up his approach in nearby Fethiye Bay. Leveraging this success, Zafer has since received funding from other sources to replicate the project across 500 square kilometres of the Mediterranean coastline. Zafer’s story shows that sustained support, through a series of grants over time, can lead to large-scale conservation wins. Experts now deem his work to be one of the most successful marine projects in the world, and Zafer himself has become an established conservationist, receiving significant grants from other organisations that exceed our own giving capacity. As a funder targeting mid-career conservationists with an aim of helping them to become established leaders with international support, this is exactly what we had hoped the Award would help him to achieve. 

It has been a delight for us to watch Zafer and his Mediterranean Conservation Society go from strength to strength, and to play a role in the growth of this highly effective work. I visited Zafer as WFN Director in 2019 and was blown away by all he and his team continue to achieve – and thrilled to see not just one but two Mediterranean monk seals!

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