Urgent conservation measures of Caretta caretta in the Pelagian Islands

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

The species Caretta caretta is the most common turtle in the Mediterranean. However, the number of nesting females in Italy is very small following a dramatic decline over the last 30 to 50 years. The two proposed sites of Community importance, the Pelagian Islands of Lampedusa and Linosa, which are in the small archipelago between Italy and Tunisia, are the last known nesting sites of Caretta caretta in Italy. In fact, they are two of the very few places in this part of the Mediterranean where this species can lay its eggs. In the last four years, a total of 11 nests have been found on the island of Linosa and between one and five nests on the island of Lampedusa. The main threats to the turtles are fishing, which kills individual adults, disturbance of the nesting areas by tourists and the fact that very little is known about the areas of the Mediterranean on which the species depends.

OBJECTIVES

The project was prompted by an urgent need to conserve the remaining population of Caretta caretta in the Pelagian Islands, since the species is seriously threatened throughout the Mediterranean and is facing extinction in Italian territorial waters. Measures would therefore be taken to stabilise the population of the turtle in Italy and to make the beaches of the Pelagian Islands safer for them to lay their eggs. Protection was foreseen against threats to the species so as to encourage them to extend their nesting areas. The project included measures aimed at the establishment of a veterinary laboratory, an awareness campaign aimed at fishermen and the testing of special devices designed to reduce deaths of turtles from fishing. Other measures foresaw cleaning of nesting sites, surveillance and monitoring to prevent disturbance by tourists, tagging with satellite transceivers to provide more information on the movements of turtles and reveal the existence of other nesting sites. An information programme aimed at tourists and the local population was to be designed to restrict access to the beaches used by turtles during the nesting season and to raise awareness on the importance of this marine species.

RESULTS

The project has contributed to create a greater local awareness of the importance of the marine turtle Caretta caretta, also in terms of tourist attraction: the turtle has become a symbol for these islands, increasing the value of the tourist offer and bringing economic benefits for the local operators (shops, services, etc.). The project’s beneficiary collaborated in the procedure leading to the official institution of the Marine protected area, furnishing support to the procedure and the administrations involved. The project has contributed to obtain the following objectives:

Surveillance of the nesting sites in the Natura 2000 sites: surveillance has been carried out during the nesting period of the sites where turtles are used to nest, in order to protoct them from nocturnal human disturbance and to establish agreements to assure the maintenance of the beach (in particular periodical cleaning, now realized by the Agrigento Province and the municipality of Lampedusa). This action coincided with an increase of the nests laid, from 7, in the three years preceding the project, to 13 during the project.

Protection of nests: the objective was reached and resulted also in the collection of interesting data on the relationship between temperature and hatching, so as to foresee the days of hatching. The translocation of some nests which were too close to the shoreline to other areas of the beach, lead to an additional success. During the project, a total of 13 nests have been protected. In total over 958 turtles were born during the project's time.

Reductions of accidental captures by fishermen: 356 turtles have been saved. Out of these 283, injured by hooks were operated in the rescue centre set up during the Life project. From data collected it emerged that the impact of long line fishing is higher than foreseen (during a single night there were 20 accidental captures of specimens of turtle). Veterinary protocols have been elaborated and applied and resulted also in the elaboration of a first aid manual. Experimentation of artificial baits was also carried out but the results were only preliminary due to the low number of experiments done.

Realisation of a Plan for the Conservation of sea turtles in the Pelagian islands reserve: the plan was elaborated also following consultation with other beneficiaries of LIFE projects on turtles and the local administration of Lampedusa and Linosa.

Public information at the local, regional and national level: the project's beneficiary has carried out an important and widespread information campaign, with the use of informative material of good quality (i.e. a book on marine turtles, a documentary, a first aid rescue manual and other material). Summer camps for volunteers and visits to the information centre contributed to an increase of knowledge on the species.

Innovative technologies have been developed to track the movement of turtles. A new satellite transmission system, named Hermes, has been realized. It allows to collect data on the turtle behaviour, movements and habitat use in order to define guidelines for the management of the marine areas where the species is found. The new system allows to collect more data than other devices used up to now in turtle researches and it is less costly than those used in the past.