A is for Arribada

Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles

A is for Arribada
At a certain time of the moon, thousands of female olive ridley, the most populous of sea turtles, arrive at high tide during the nighttime at specific beaches to lay their eggs in the sand. Sometimes there are as many as 150,000 turtles. This will go on each night for four days, and then an eerie silence falls. Occasionally, an Arribada turtle will occur with the much rarer Kemps ridley turtle. The turtles’ arrival always occurs at small, specific sections of specific beaches: two beaches in the Orissa province of India, one in Mexico and two in Costa Rica. The beaches look much like a city centre commuter station at rush hour – a seething mass of struggling ungainly bodies. Many of the just arriving turtles dig up earlier nests, scattering the eggs for predators to feast on. Once hatched, the baby turtles are prey to ghost crabs, herons, vultures, dogs, raccoons, cats and many other predators, with less than 50 percent actually making it to the water. In the water they are beset by fish, crabs and sea birds. It is estimated that less than one turtle per thousand reach adulthood. In Orissa, a dreadful toll is wreaked upon the massing turtles, with reportedly around 40,000 dead turtles washed up on the beaches. The turtles are thought to be victims of the offshore fishing fleets – dead in the nets, but dropped overboard because it is illegal to bring them ashore. Just another example of the futility of current fishing regulations around the world. It’s almost as if our leaders say, "It’s OK to kill them, but not to eat them." News In La Lavandou in the South of France, a young loggerhead turtle found on the beach in poor condition was rescued by turtle lovers. Thanks to local veterinarians and the staff of the famous Musee Oceanographique Monaco, founded in 1899 by Prince Albert 1^st of Monaco, the turtle (now named Leon) is recovering from a three-hour operation to remove a large fish hook embedded in its intestine. Leon is recovering well in his tank at the aquarium, and hopefully will soon be fit enough to be returned to the sea at Lavandou. Local villagers on the island of Shodoshima in Japan are intending to dedicate a sculpture to the loggerhead turtle who surprised them last summer by being the first in living memory to grace their beach to lay its eggs. The nest was in front of the local school, and the children gained a valuable insight into conservation as they protected the nest and watched entranced as the resulting hatchlings made their way to the sea. For those of you with a legal bent, we are pleased to announce that a new Legal Research Guide to "International and Regional Fisheries Regulation of the Mediterranean" is now available on the EuroTurtle web site. The guide has been compiled by a very special friend of MEDASSET, American Legal Consultant Larry Miranda, J.D., and will be updated regularly. With references to treatises, law review articles, and Internet resources, this guide was developed as a basic resource for the legal and scientific researcher interested in international driftnet regulation, with a particular focus on regional regulation for the Mediterranean.
February 2001 MEDASSET, the Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles, is the only organization working exclusively on the conservation of sea turtles throughout the Mediterranean Sea. It is an international non-governmental organization (NGO), founded in the United Kingdom in 1988 and established as a Charitable Trust in 1993. It works closely with its sister NGO in Greece, which shares its name and principal object but is a separate legal entity. The aims of the organization are to conserve and protect the remaining Mediterranean sea turtle populations and their marine ecosystems, through scientific research programs (both coastal and off-shore), education, political liaison, publicity and fund-raising. MEDASSET also endeavors to bring together other NGOs, governmental organizations and universities for international co-operation. To read more articles from this column, click here. Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles - MEDASSET 1c Licavitou St., 106 72 Athens, GREECE Tel.: + 301 3613572, + 301 3640389, Fax: + 301 3613572 E-mail: medasset@hol.gr http://www.ex.ac.uk/MEDASSET/medas/medas.htm
	Europe's only Mediterranean sea turtle biology and conservation web site for science and education. A joint venture between King's College Biology Department, Exeter University, and MEDASSET. For more information, e-mail Roger Poland at roger@kingscol.demon.co.uk.