Sharp Increase in the Numbers of Nesting Sea Turtles Rewards a Generation of Hard Work in Greece

October 7, 2024 journo

From Spain in the west to Cyprus in the east, the Mediterranean has witnessed a record rise in sea turtle nesting.

It’s taken immense dedication, benefited from technological advances, and needed a long time to come to fruition; nowhere is this truer than on the Greek island of Zakynthos, described as the largest loggerhead turtle maternity ward in the Med.

Since 2023, Greece has recorded over 10,000 sea turtle nests on its beaches, up from averages of 6,000 during the 21st century.

“Throughout the 2000s, we were registering annual declines of about 6% on Crete, for example,” said Dr. Aliki Panagopoulou, research coordinator for Archelon, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece.

“Now we are looking at a dramatic increase in nest numbers, the result of decades of conservation efforts. Our strategy has always been to make sure that as many hatchlings as possible get to the water and are recruited to the population,” he added, speaking with the Guardian.

Dr. Panagopoulou was just one of several scientists and activists speaking with the Guardian about the news of the explosion in turtle nesting numbers. In addition to the rise in nests, there has been a large rise in the numbers of sea turtle hatchlings surviving into adulthood—which under normal circumstances is about 1 in 1,000.

Turtles tagged with radio wave-trackers at birth are now coming back to beaches around Zakynthos to nest—20, sometimes 25 years after the fact.

In some parts of the island, such as Sekania beach, there is one nest for every 50 square centimeters of sand.

Some beaches are strictly monitored during nesting season—a tactic also used in Florida, where sea turtle numbers have been growing steadily for years—and the installation of CCTV cameras has helped keep turtle protection teams alert to the massed presence of predators like ghost crabs and seagulls.

In 2022, Georgia recorded an all-time record of loggerhead sea turtle nests on its beaches, with 5 short of 4,000.

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In 2023, Palm Beach County saw over 20,000 nests—a nesting rate never seen before on several beaches.

African turtle havens Seychelles and Cape Verde have also seen massive increases in the numbers of turtle nests this decade. Cape Verde recorded 200,000 sea turtle nests in 2020. The nation has worked incredibly hard to cut down on poaching of turtles and their eggs.

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Like Cape Verde, the Seychelles saw their nesting numbers rebound substantially from lows of around 10,000, and the atoll of Aldabara is now the second-largest green sea turtle rookery in East Africa.

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