2020 British Indian Ocean Territory Silver Sea Turtle BU 1oz .999 fine Silver
Coin Highlights: - Contains 1 oz of .999 fine Silver.
- Coin comes in protective capsule
- Limited mintage of 10,000 coins worldwide.
- Reverse Depicts a sea turtle swimming.
- Obverse: Depicts an effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II used exclusively by Pobjoy Mint.
- Sovereign coin backed by the British Indian Ocean Territory government.
This coin would be a great addition to any coin collection.
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia, and directly south of the Maldives. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 individual islands many of which are very small.
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) plays a crucial role as a foraging ground for immature sea turtles that feed in the shallow lagoons. Ongoing conservation work has shown that the sea turtles remain in these environments for many years before they travel back to their natal nesting areas to breed as adults.
Unfortunately, the sea turtle population was exploited for many years as a source of food and jewelry trade from the local islanders and passing merchant ships. Until relatively recently, the UK Government created the worlds largest no-take marine protected area (MPA) in 2010 within the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) which includes the some of the worlds most pristine tropical coral reefs along with the 58 islands of the archipelago that are native to multiple endangered species such as the hawksbill and green sea turtle. Fast forward to today and with the help of the UK Government it is estimated that around 1,000 adults of both species the hawksbill and green sea turtle nest annually. This has greatly helped with the recent increase of population for both the hawksbill and green sea turtle
