PEOPLE power is being called upon to protect nesting pairs of the nationally threatened White-bellied Sea-eagles at Winton Wetlands. Wetlands visitor experience manager, Jonathan Correll, said the species, with only an estimated 100 breeding pairs left in Victoria, faces an uncertain future. And Winton Wetlands, which is a known breeding location, with three Sea-eagle nests already identified, wants to ensure its area is protected. It has this week launched its Save Our Sea-eagles (SOS) project, seeking to raise $25,000 through crowdfunding (Pozible funders), with $25,000 from the State Governments Threatened Species Program. Mr Correll said the $50,000 project aims to permanently conserve the nesting site by restricting human access within 1 km of the nests. This conservation reserve will be iproximately 1000 hectares in size, where the birds will be able to nest without being disturbed, he said. We will be developing a range of ways to protect these great raptors -signage, barriers and fencing, to ensure a permanent isolated nesting location to support the successful breeding of the species. A key innovation will be the use of a remote access camera trained on the nesting site and this will be transmitted to our information centre at the Mokoan Hub. This will provide another way for people to understand a bit more about the Sea-eagles without disturbing the nesting birds. Mr Correll said there is a rewards scheme for those who donate. The campaign has the support of Jaclyn Symes (MLC, Northern Victoria), who is encouraging people to support the crowdfunding campaign at http://www.pozible.com/ project/202356.