A volunteer's Diary, 2008 (1)
16th Year of Turtle Conservation Project
is Well Under Way
A Whopping 224 Nests
THE 16th year of the
Marine Turtle
Conservation Project is
now well underway, with
61 nests on the Alagadi
beaches, and a spectacular 163
more on the north, east and west
coasts of the island.
The project began 16 years ago
when Brendan Godley and Annette
Broderick put together a research
expedition, the purpose of which
was to determine the numbers of
marine turtles nesting on the
beaches of Northern Cyprus.
It also aimed to study the
threats to the breeding population
of Green and Loggerhead turtles
that visit the island each year to
mate and lay.
This was a response to a
request for help from Spot (Society
for the Protection Of Turtles), a
local group concerned with marine
turtle conservation. Since then,
students from universities all over
the UK and elsewhere have given
up their summers to volunteer on
the project and carry out much-needed research and conservation
work. Over the years many
scientific journals have been
published as a result of the
research efforts of the project,
concerning many diverse topics
from satellite tracking of marine
turtles to the effects of sand
temperature on the sex of
hatchlings.
The MTCP was also
instrumental in proclaiming the
beaches of Alagadi the fifth most
important nesting beaches for
Green turtles in the
Mediterranean. Even more
importantly it helped to gain
Alagadi status as a Specially
Protected Area (SPA) in 1997, the
first of its kind in Northern Cyprus.
There are two species of
marine turtle that nest in the
Mediterranean; the Loggerhead
turtle, Caretta caretta, and the
Green turtle, Chelonia mydas, both
of which nest in Northern Cyprus.
These turtles nest on many
beaches around the island,
returning approximately every two
weeks during the nesting season
(from May to late August) to lay a
clutch of eggs in the sand.
Loggerhead turtles lay about 40
to 80 eggs in any one clutch, which
take 40 to 60 days to hatch. Green
turtles lay around 80 to 110 eggs in
each nest, which take longer to
hatch, with each nest incubating in
the heat of the sand for roughly 50
to 70 days. Our first nest on
Alagadi, that of a Loggerhead will
reach the 50 day incubation mark
on July 16, so we should soon hear
the pitter patter of tiny flippers on
our shores!
This year has been a bumper
year for Green turtles following a
relatively quiet year in 2007. So far
we have 34 Green nests and 27
Loggerhead nests on Alagadi.
Although the nest numbers are
pretty even we have seen far more
Greens on our beaches.
Their indecisiveness over
where to nest means they are
frequent U-turners and often
traverse the beach without
nesting. They come ashore for a
wander and dig about only to head
back out to sea and reappear on a
different part of the beach,
regularly on the same night.
We have been known to
scramble over rocks and roads
following a roaming Green that
just cannot decide where to nest!
The lulls seen in Green turtle
numbers in some years, and surges
in others is due to their inter-
migratory period. Green turtles
only come ashore to nest every
three to four years.
In between these years they
undergo a massive migration to
foraging grounds of sea grass beds,
their favourite snack, to stock up
on reserves needed for the next
migration.
Loggerheads spend their time
between breeding seasons feeding
on jellyfish and crustaceans and
exploring the ocean. Over the past
several years MTCP has attached
satellite transmitters to a number
of turtles. This year we are
awaiting two suitable Loggerheads, small in size but
returnees to Alagadi to which
satellite transmitters may be
attached.
The information gained will hopefully give us an insight into
their behaviour between migrations
and so enable us to work more
efficiently towards their
conservation Whilst our
conservation work on the nesting
beaches is important to ensure the
survival of the eggs to the hatchling
stage and so increase the number of
hatchlings released each year, it is
also vital to protect the other life
stages of marine turtles. It takes 25
to 30 years for a turtle to make it
from hatching to sexual maturity,
and only one in every thousand
hatchlings is thought to be fortunate
enough to make it this far. Hopefully
our research will highlight key
migration routes and foraging
grounds for the turtles nesting here,
so we can try to get protective
legislation in place to prevent further
losses of these beautiful creatures.
During the season we patrol
the Alagadi beaches from 8.30pm
until 5am every night to monitor
the nesting females as they come
ashore. We walk the entire beach
every 10 minutes in pairs, ever
hoping to see the tell-tale signs of
the turtles; either a moving rock or
the distinguishable tracks.
When we find a turtle we follow
it on hands and knees studying its
every move. When a female starts
to lay nature takes over and they
enter a trance-like state. At this
point we are able to bring guests
over to the female to witness the
awe-inspiring spectacle of these
ancient creatures laying their eggs
and then carefully hiding their
nests in the sand.
Each night we are fortunate
enough to be able to bring 10
guests down to the beach with us.
Nesting females are alert to
potential predators whilst climbing
the beach and digging their nests,
so we ask the guests to wait on the
mid-point of the beach until a
turtle begins to lay.
To be able to witness this
amazing experience pre-booking is
essential, so please drop by the
Goatshed in Alagadi.
Visitors are always welcomed
at the Goatshed; after l0am is
best, and remember we don’t finish
work until 5am. We have a short video you can watch all about the
turtles and we love to answer your
questions. You can also make
bookings, buy some turtle
souvenirs, sponsor a turtle or just
have a chat with some of the
volunteers.
To find us take the east road
from Girne and take the turning left
for Esentepe. Head into Alagadi
village, go past St Kathleen’s
restaurant and follow the road
around. When you hit the dirt look
to your right for the white house
with the green turtle painted on the
side.
If you don’t have chance to visit
you can always visit our website
www.seaturtle.org/mtrg where you
will find more information on the
project and where the turtles have
nested in previous years. There are
also links to see where our satellite
turtles have ventured.
Hope to see you all soon!
Diary by Emma Dennis
Reprinted from Cyprus Today |