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Loggerhead
Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta) have been on earth for 250
million years and are contemporaries of the earliest
dinosaurs. The species, as with all sea turtles is
endangered. Each summer hundreds of Loggerheads return
to Zakynthos to mate and lay their eggs on the beaches in
Laganas Bay.
Zakynthos is the
most important nesting ground in Europe, with 80% of the
Meditteranean population returning each summer.
Loggerheads only return to the beach where they hatched, so
the Zakynthian population is indigenous. If they
die out the island will not be repopulated by turtles from
other areas in the Mediterranean.
However, as well as
being a sea turtle nursery, Zakynthos is also a popular
holiday destination, and each summer, at the same time that
the turtles return, the island turns into a playground for
hundreds of thousands of tourists. With unchecked
tourist development of the land, nesting areas are under
immense pressure from illegal building, pollution, illegal
beach furniture and traffic. From only 11.5km of nesting
beach in Laganas Bay, only 5.5km remain in a good state to
attract nesting turtles.
Tourism is a
critical and worsening situation in Zakynthos in terms of
nesting beach destruction, but coupled with the fact that with
only 1 or 2 out of every 1000 hatchlings naturally surviving
to reach adulthood and reproduce, the species is teetering
precariously on the edge. Yannis Vardakastanis, ESS'
founder, says that when he was a child growing up at Gerakas,
he remembers the beaches black with hatchlings and females
nesting during the daytime. 30 years on this is no
longer seen, due to the degradation of nesting beaches,
tourists on the beaches day and night, falling nest numbers
and many hatchlings not even making it to the sea.
Moreover each summer many adults are seriously injured or die
as a direct result of tourism.
Although water
sports have been banned in Laganas Bay, boating activity is
unchecked. Private yachts come and go as they please
with little regard for speed limits and buoys delinating the
restricted Marine Park maritime zones. Turtle spotting boats
are rife. Many chase the turtles, some pull them out of the
water to show tourists, and cause immense distress to these
animals which are only trying to rest after their exhausting
nesting process. Then there are the glass bottom boats
which operate in such a way as to force the turtles to dive
underneath in order for paying customers to see
them.
Although fishing is
banned in Laganas Bay over the summer months, laws are not
enforced and as a result turtles are still being caught in
nets, ingest hooks and fishing line and become ill and
die. They also swallow plastic bags which float in the
water like jellyfish. These become twisted in the gut,
the turtles are unable to eat, grow weak and starve to
death.
However, the most
horrific injuries occur when speed boats collide with
turtles. Injures consist of deep cuts to the carapace
(shell) and internal organs, from which turtles can die a slow
and agonizing death.
However, turtles can
recover if found in time and given emergency
treatment.
Normally when an
injured turtle is found, she is flown the Rescue Hospital in
Glyfada, Athens, a flight of more than 1 hour. Flights
are no longer available, so they have to be driven and on a
noisy ferry on a 6 hour journey. This wait can be the
difference between life and death. Immediate treatment
is essential for the turtle to survive.
To change this,
Earth Sea & Sky has teamed up with Sea Life Centre
UK's SOS Campaign. Each year the influential
conservation and campaigning arm of the European network of
Sea Life Centres - the SOS Programme - champions a
worthy cause and this year it is to launch an ambitious
campaign, with Earth Sea & Sky, to raise 500,000 Euros
(£350,000) to build a Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation
Centre at Agios Sostis. We want to ensure that injured
turtles can receive immediate medical treatment from
specialist marine vets, rehabilitation and ultimately release
back into the ocean, all without having to be flown to
Athens.
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