Coe97 patara pyilmaz

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T-PVS (97) 45

FOLLOW UP REPORT TO THE 17th MEETING OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE CONVENTION ON THE CONSERVATION OF EUROPEAN WILDLIFE AND NATURAL HABITATS (BERN CONVENTION, Dec. 1-5/1997) CONCERNING MARINE TURTLE CONSERVATION IN PATARA, TURKEY.

Report to MEDASSET by:Pamir Yilmaz, University of Akdeniz. October 1997

At the beginning of July 1997, a ten year old German girl was killed in the sea at Patara, by a jet ski. The manager of the daily use facility on the beach which has been built by the Authority for the Protection of Special Areas (APSA), who is a local village leader, had been warned by students of the University of Izmir, who were studying sea turtles on the beach for Prof. I. Baran, about the dangers the jet ski posed, but they had been ignored. Anyway, as a result of the girls death the jet ski use has stopped, but for how long? Although conservation rules and regulations are in place for Patara, they are just written on paper or shown on signs, no serious attempts are made to enforce them, even when contraventions are brought to the attention of the authorities. At a meeting in Patara on the 28th August 1997, between the Governor of Anatalya and the Turkish Ministry of Culture, the Governor accepted responsibility for the protection of Patara and asked for the demolition of three illegal buildings built during his period of office and therefor his responsibility. This would be a good start. It is interesting that if the Governor only accepts responsibility for illegal buildings built during his tenure of the office, what official is to be held responsible for illegal buildings built earlier? Attempts seem to be made to legalise the illegal buildings by including them in construction plans prepared by APSA and the Ministry of Culture, which give permission for more and more development. So is APSA, funded by international money, upholding conservation interests or just an operation to try to circumvent environmental laws and regulations? On that part of the beach where the daily facility area is located, there have been no turtle nests this year, and there has been a general decline in the number of nests, continuing the trend of the past two years. This cannot of course, be directly attributed to the pressure from tourism, due to the cyclical nature of turtle nesting, but has to be taken into consideration, and makes continued study of the utmost importance. There is no sign that any of the World Bank funds paid to APSA for use in conservation, have been spent in Patara.

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