ARCHIVED - Turtle ahead; annual campaign underway as Murcia hopes for more baby turtles

Loggerheads could again lay eggs in the Region of Murcia this year

It's turtle season!
Last year a precious clutch of eggs laid by a loggerhead turtle hatched here in the Region of Murcia, the first time in more than 100 years and as we move into "egg laying season" the regional government of Murcia is preparing for the possible return of egg laying turtles.

This year a campaign is being undertaken to pre-warn beach goers via leaflets and videos to watch out for possible signs of turtles in advance and take the correct steps to ensure that the authorities are alerted and can remove the eggs.

There are so many factors which minimise the chances of baby turtles making it from the egg to adulthood, and only 1 in 1,000 babies reaches maturity.

Last year’s 21 baby turtles were hatched in an incubator and are being reared at the Marine Aquiculture centre in San Pedro del Pinatar and the Centro Oceanográfico in Valencia within the international “head starting” programme, the idea being that the turtles are released when they are around 1 year old and of a suitable size to greatly increase their chance of survival as part of a bid to re-establish loggerhead populations along the Mediterranean coastlines of Spain.

The message this year is the same as last year; turtles must be allowed peace and quiet and nothing should be done to disturb them: the best course of action is to keep your distance, ensure that others do the same and alert the authorities by calling the 112 emergency services line so that staff from the Wildlife Recovery Centre in El Valle can take charge of the situation.

On no account attempt to touch them or use flash photography, and where possible avoid appearing in their line of sight and making loud noise.

If you see any tracks in the sand, call the same number.

To this end leaflets are to be distributed to beachgoers at libraries, supermarkets and beach bars, under the headline of “¡Caretta a la Vista!”.

Until recently it was rare, although not unheard-of, for loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) to lay eggs on the beaches of Spain, but in recent years there have been three or four such instances per year, and one of the reasons is likely to be the rise in sea temperatures. In order to reproduce, the species requires a water temperature of between 22 and 24 degrees, and then the ideal conditions in which to bury and incubate eggs in the sand include a temperature of around 29 degrees at a depth of 40 centimetres.

Until a couple of decades ago those conditions simply didn’t exist in Spain, or at best were very infrequent, but over the last 17 years more than 30 nestings have been reported in this country, and experts believe that the “best” beaches for such events are those of Alicante, Murcia and Almería. This is because they prefer wide beaches with fine sand and little in the way of tides, perfect conditions for which can be found along our own coastline.
 

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