By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

THE Coastal Resource Management Office is now looking for additional funding to complete the projects in the Obyan Beach rehabilitation plan which aims to preserve the area as a nesting ground for green sea turtles.
There is still a lot to be done, according to CRM natural resources planner Kathy Yuknavage.
CRMO and its contractor broke ground on Monday for the construction of an emergency access gate and one set of stairs going down to the beach.
Paid for by Mariana Islands Nature Alliance through funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the project aims to protect an area that has been “progressively impacted due to increased vehicular traffic.”
Obyan Beach on Saipan’s eastern shore is a favorite diving site.
According to the quarterly progress report which Yuknavage prepared for the Pacific Islands Coastal Program, the area has suffered due to the increasing number of people coming there.
The negative impact involves destroyed vegetation, sand compaction, contamination of petroleum-based pollutants and beach erosion that is cumulatively deterring normal turtle nesting behavior.
CRMO and MINA started an interagency educational and outreach campaign called “Walk It, Don’t Drive It” to discourage driving on the beach.
With assistance from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., CRMO and MINA blocked off traffic by installing used power poles as curbs.
The agencies also installed three information signs in the area.