Sea Turtles Lakonia

SEA TURTLES LAKONIA — A PROJECT OF TOULIPA GOULIMYI

Supported by the Swiss Association CareCaretta

ΣΥΛΛΟΓΟΣ ΤΟΥΛΙΠΑ ΓΟΥΛΙΜΗ

Loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, in Lakonia face serious threats to their continued existence. Turtle nesting beaches are being damaged and destroyed. Sea turtles are being injured, others are dying.

This project identifies and protects turtle nests and hatchlings. Volunteers keep detailed records of each nest and how many eggs hatch.

When injured turtles are found, volunteers stabilize their condition and arrange transportation to ARCHELON’s Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Glyfada.

Volunteers examine all dead turtles, record their measurements and location, and notify ARCHELON and the Hellenic Coast Guard.

Posts

On December 15, 2020, the sea turtle we named Elpida--which means Hope--was released from ARCHELON's Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Glyfada into the sea. She was found on August 4, 2020, stranded on the beach near Pavlopetri, with an obviously serious head injury. Her skull had been bashed in. Volunteers transported Elpida to the headquarters of Toulipa Goulimyi's rescue effort, where she was kept in a turtle rescue box and made as comfortable as possible. That same day, Toulipa Goulimyi found donors to pay for an emergency taxi ride for Elpida to ARCHELON's Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Glyfada, a five-hour drive from Neapolis.

Elpida was cared for at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center for four and one-half months. During that time she received medication to prevent infection. Slowly, her injury healed.

On December 15, 2020, Elpida was strong enough to return to the sea. She was released near Glyfada. Elpida has a distinctive damaged carapace. If she returns to Vatika Bay, we will be able to recognize her.

Elpida's rescue, treatment and release is an important success. But Elpida should never have been injured in the first place. We have a lot of work to do to convince everyone that sea turtles are valuable and treasured members of our seaside community.

Thanks to all the Toulipa Goulimyi volunteers who aided in the rescue and transportation of Elpida!

The last hatchlings from a nearby nest have made it almost to the sea. As a Toulipa Goulimyi volunteer observes their efforts, a large crude oil tanker looms in the background. The presence of large commercial ships in Vatika Bay threatens the fragile marine ecosystem. Two studies by the Hellenic Center for Marine Reserach, done in 2010 and 2015, clearly showed the destruction of great swaths of the EU-protected species of sea grass Posidonia oceanica caused by the anchors of these large commercial ships. Posidonia oceanica is called the “lungs of the ocean” because of the large quantities of oxygen it emits into the sea through the process of photosynthesis. Posidonia oceanica provides a habitat for hundreds of species of fish and other sea creatures. The destruction of the Posidonia oceanica in Vatika Bay was the subject of a Petition to the EU filed by local concerned citizens in 2016. The EU Commission answered in 2017, saying that the Greek authorities had assured the Commission that is was preparing a Special Port Regulation that would protect the Posidonia oceanica in Vatika Bay. As of September 2020, no Special Port Regulation limiting the number of ships that anchor in Vatika Bay, and confining them to anchoring in a small, well-defined area of the Bay, has been enacted. Large crude oil tankers, such as the one in this photo, continue to tear up Posidonia oceanica in Vatika Bay with their anchors, in clear contravention of EU regulations.

Toulipa Goulimyi volunteers monitor the hatching of the sea turtle nests. Ten days after the first hatchling turtles have been observed leaving a nest, it is time to open the nest. Here, ARCHELON-trained project leader Maria Aronis makes a record of the eggs in this nest on Limnes beach. Two surviving turtles that were in the nest but had not made it to the surface are swimming in the plastic bowl. Near Maria, you can see six dead hatchlings that did not make it out of the nest. Next are 24 eggs that did not hatch. Finally, all the empty shells of the eggs that did hatch are laid out in rows of ten: 60 hatched eggs. Six of those did not survive. But 54 turtles did successfully make it out of the nest alive. We don’t know how many made it successfully into the sea — hopefully most of them did. Toulipa Goulimyi records all these statistics for each nest that has been identified during the season and sends them to ARCHELON at the end of the season.

When baby turtles hatch, they instinctively head for the brightest light they see. For thousands of years, the brightest light near the sea was the light of the moon, reflected on the waves. Now, in many turtle nesting areas, the brightest light is a streetlight, restaurant, bar, hotel, or brightly-lit house. Baby turtles that head towards those lights will never reach the sea, which is usually in the opposite direction.

Where turtle nests have been built in places with bright, competing lights, Toulipa Goulimyi builds a corridor from the nest to the sea, so the hatchlings will find their way to their new home. This photo shows Toulpia Goulimyi volunteer leader Maria Aronis inspecting a turtle corridor near the municipal ferry dock in Neapolis, Lakonia.

Some turtles hatched the previous night. The hatch will continue for three or four days, as eggs from the bottom of the nest hatch and the babies make their way up through the sand to the surface. To properly imprint their hatching site in their brains, the baby turtles must cross the sand to the sea themselves. As they move their limbs, flailing through the sand, their lungs start properly inflating. The hatchlings initial journey to the sea is an important part of their development!

Elpida: Saving an injured female loggerhead turtle

On August 8, 2020, Toulip Goulimyi was notified that an injured turtle had been found stranded on the beach between Pavlopetri and Manganos beach. Maria Aronis and her husband, along with the people who had found the turtle, carried the turtle to the car and took it to Aronis’s house. The turtle was carried in a large plastic container provided by ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece.

In this photo, you can see the injury to the head of the turtle — she was beaten with a heavy object that crushed her skull.

In the photo below, you can see the injured turtle — who was given the name Elpida, meaning Hope — in her plastic container, attended by Maria Aronis on the left and Pamela Stathakis on the right. Her head has been lightly bandaged with gauze to prevent further injury, as prescribed by ARCHELON.

Several hours after being rescued, Elpida was taken by private taxi to ARCHELON’s Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Glyfada, Attica. She survived the five-hour long ride and is currently being cared for at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center. Private donations paid for Elpida’s taxi ride.

Elpida is living up to her name, slowly recovering.

Facebook

Σύλλογος Τουλίπα Γουλιμή