MEDITERRANEAN SEA TURTLES Lily Venizelos Sea turtles are remarkable creatures inhabiting the seas and oceans for over 150 million years. Despite intensive research, debates and legal protection measures throughout the world, many populations of the seven species are now endangered. Three sea turtle species are found in the Mediterranean, two of which nest there and once boasted abundant populations: the loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and the green turtle (Chelonia mydas). The leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) is a rare visitor. Mediterranean sea turtles, which are genetically isolated, suffered from heavy commercial exploitation (estimated to have reached 100,000) until as recently as the late 1960s and are increasingly threatened by nesting habitat degradation due to coastal development that is mainly tourist-oriented. The species most affected by these factors is the green turtle, recently declared critically endangered by the IUCN: only 500 – 1,000 individuals are estimated to nest, mainly in Turkey, Cyprus and according to recent reports, in Lebanon. Loggerheads used to nest on many Mediterranean shores, but today only Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Libya retain sizeable concentrations of nesting females. Illegal beach front development, unregulated tourism, sand removal and compaction, noise, lights, vehicles, summer beach furniture, and propellerpowered speedboats disturb, disorientate, frighten, injure and deter turtles from nesting. Shading of the sand by beach furniture (towels and umbrellas) lowers the nest temperature and affects the sex ratio of the hatchlings. The Mediterranean, an enclosed sea, rapidly becomes affected by toxic effluents, dumped waste and other factors. Turtles become entangled in discarded nets and ropes, and eat plastic garbage mistaking it for food; they are also affected by contaminants such as oil. Added to these pressures are incidental catches by fisheries interaction and exploitation at sea. It could be that incidental catches have been removing more turtles than nest annually on Mediterranean beaches. It is possible that as currently reproductively active adults die off, sea turtle populations in the Mediterranean will suffer rapid decline in the face of steadily decreasing recruitment. This is especially so in the case of the green turtles. Although sea turtles are classified as threatened species and protection measures exist in most Mediterranean countries, more often than not these laws are blatantly flouted. Inactivity by governments continues, and international Conventions, protective Legislation, conservation Action Plans, EC Directives and Campaigns by NGOs have so far met with little or no success.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA TURTLES, Lily Venizelos
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