MEDASSET’s Approach to Sea Turtle Conservation: Bridging Gaps in the Mediterranean The organisation’s aim since its official constitution in 1988 was to get involved in research and conservation projects throughout the Mediterranean, especially where research had never or sparsely been carried out before; and where little or no commitment to sea turtle conservation was known. Awareness raising, education, capacity building and lobbying complimented the organisation’s conservation and research goals. Immediate research result announcements and open-access publications became one of MEDASSET’s “trademarks”!
Over 8.000 km. of Mediterranean coastline were surveyed for potential or known nesting sites including Sardinia, the NE Aegean mainland and islands in Greece, the shores of Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Lebanon. Nesting was recorded for the first time in Lebanon, Syria and on parts of Libya and Egypt: this provided useful information for coastal habitat management plans, thus making an important contribution towards legal frameworks protecting sea turtles, especially in Egypt and Greece. The first research on incidental catches of turtles in surface long line fisheries in the Greek Ionian Sea, “stavnike” traps in the Adriatic Sea in Albania, and the launch of the first satellite tracking project of turtles in Albania, complemented our marine research projects.
With only 300-500 female Chelonia mydas green turtles remaining in the Mediterranean, this species remains the organisation’s research and conservation priority. Lobbying and international campaigns helped towards the establishment of the Zakynthos National Marine Park (ZNMP) and the “Save Patara” campaign in Turkey has so far prevented further development on the nesting beach. The Kazanli (Turkey) worldwide campaign, after several thousand tons of toxic waste were released into the sea in front of the green turtle nesting beach, resulted in the government initiating the neutralisation of the toxic “time bomb” of over 1.5 million tons of hazardous toxic waste, from the soda chrome factory, that is sitting on the beach. Recent campaigns for fisheries interaction in Episkopi Bay (Cyprus) and the protection of nesting beaches in South Kyparissia (Peloponnese, Greece), Fethiye and Patara (Turkey), are in full development.
MEDASSET’s activities have been backed by the European Commission (EC), UNEP’s Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP), the Regional Activity Center for Specially Protected Areas of MAP (RAC/SPA), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and are further supported by national and international funding NGOs, sponsorships, fund raising, etc.