20/12/2023

Forty years later: the world of ARCHELON has expanded

At the event for the 40th Anniversary of ARCHELON, Thomas Arapis, President and founding member of the Association, talked about the turtles and the people who coexist every day and create the world of ARCHELON today. Read the second part of his speech below.

DSC02789.jpg

We encounter many sea turtles in our daily activities:

  • Female turtles nesting in Laganas Bay, Kyparissia Bay, Lakonikos Bay and Crete (Rethymno, Chania, Messara), as well as other areas in the Peloponnese (Kotychi, Romanos, Koroni, Evrotas, SE Lakonia). ARCHELON surveys daily 75 - 110 kilometers of coast every summer and records around 5.500 nests. The projects ensure the undisturbed nesting and egg-laying process, the protection of nests and hatchlings until they enter the sea and public awareness activities

  • Injured or sick turtles reported The ARCHELON Rescue Network, which operates on a 24-hour basis 365 days a year. The network is also activated in cases of stranded or dead animals, in cooperation with cost quards, fishermen and citizens and associations throughout the Greek coastline.

  • To date, around 1,500 injured or sick animals from all over Greece have been treated at the ARCHELON Sea Turtle Rescue Centre in Glyfada, Attica. Qualified staff and trained volunteers provide care for them there and after their recovery, these turtles return to the sea, to their natural environment

  • Turtles we monitor using satellite transmitters during their migratory routes as well as turtles in Amvrakikos Gulf, an important feeding ground for sea turtles, where we have been monitoring them since 2000 by tagging.

Untitled design (13).png

Besides these many turtles, there are also many people in the world of ARCHELON...

  • More than 15,000 volunteers from all over the world have participated in our projects during these 40 years. About 500 volunteers each year.

  • The now 20 employees who carry the main burden of managing and implementing ARCHELON’s activities. Forty seasonal part-time associates are added each summer, bringing the number of employees to 60.

  • The members of the Association, who control and elect the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee with democratic procedures in the General Assembly.

  • The members who offer their expertise and voluntary service to the Board of Directors, the Scientific Committee and the Working Groups. Please note that ARCHELON implements the principle that employees cannot be elected as members of the Board of Directors, as well as that the members of the Board of Directors do not receive any financial benefits.

DSC02656.jpg

  • In our world I want to include the public bodies that have responsibilities for the marine environment, nature protection and protected areas, especially the Ministry of Environment, the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (NECCA) and its competent Management Units in our project areas, with which we cooperate.

  • I would also like to single out the Coast Guard, responsible for the protection of nesting beaches and the surveillance of measures at sea, with whom we have also had an open channel of communication over the years for injured or dead animals and for sporadic nest incidents.

  • The Rescue Network as well as the effort to record sporadic nesting brought us close to people who care about the environment and wild animals throughout Greece and we were happy to cooperate with local groups, such as Naxos Wildlife Protection Societ, the Toulipa Goulimi Association in SE Lakonia, groups of local volunteers in Messara, Sitia, Kefallonia and many others. Together with them and with ANIMA, as well as with other organizations we worked to create the Cooperation Network of Organizations active in care of wild Animals in Greece.

  • Our world also includes all the private organizations and businesses that helped and are helping the work of ARCHELON with donations, sponsorships, collaborations, such as TEMES, ERGO, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, CMA-CGM, UNISEA, TROFINKO, PLANET, HSBC, Frapport Greece, and many others. In the tourism sector, our cooperation with TUI, the largest tour operator in the world, which has started since the 1990s, continues. This year we started with the TUI Care Foundation a certification process for turtle-friendly hotels in northern Crete.

  • Also, the approximately 300 hotel units throughout the country, like Grecotel, Costa Navarino and Domes Aulus among others, that are particularly interested in the environment and the protection of sea turtles, help our work and encourage their customers to participate in our actions.

DSC02669.jpg

  • Every year there are approximately 10,000 students and teachers who take part in our educational programs and visit the Rescue Centre in Glyfada and the Agiannakis Environmental Station in Kyparissiakos Bay, either in person or online.

  • Our world would not be complete without mentioning all the people who collaborated with us in previous years. They gave their best, together with the friends and assistants who actively stood by ARCHELON in many different ways during these 40 years.

  • Finally, we have to acknowledge as part of our world the hundreds of thousands of tourists visiting the nesting beaches and the Rescue Centre, who have learned about sea turtles during their holidays and have supported us, often returning as volunteers, themselves or their children. ARCHELON is a living part of the global efforts for protecting nature and the environment.

The event celebrating 40 years of ARCHELON took place in the Auditorium of the Benaki Museum, in Athens, on the 8th of November 2023.

You can watch a short video for the 40 years of ARCHELON here

You can read the first part of the president's speech here

RECENT NEWS

  1. OUR NEWS
    26/06/2024

    Sea Turtles Surprise us: if you see tracks on the beach, help ARCHELON's research!

    Not all beaches on Greece's extensive coastline are suitable for sea turtle nesting, but sometimes these marine reptiles surprise us! This summer, ARCHELON is asking for your help to investigate a phenomenon called "sporadic nesting".

    Read more
  2. OUR NEWS
    17/06/2024

    ATTENTION! Sea turtles are not pets: Do not touch them or feed them!

    In areas where a sea turtle associates human presence with food, it’s behavior changes. The turtle treats humans as well as other turtles as competitors in its feeding grounds and tries to drive them away with bites.

    Read more
  3. OUR NEWS
    16/06/2024

    30 Years of Hope: The Sea Turtle Rescue Centre of ARCHELON Celebrates World Sea Turtle Day

    Every year on June 16th, we celebrate World Sea Turtle Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness about these magnificent creatures and the threats they face. This year is particularly important for ARCHELON, as the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre marks 30 years of operation.

    Read more
  4. OUR NEWS
    13/06/2024

    Poster contest for children and young adults: Welcome the 2024 turtle hatchlings on the beaches!

    Watercolors, markers, collage, computer, phone? Everything is useful. Use your creativity and imagination to make an A3 or A4 size poster announcing that the 2024 sea turtle eggs are about to hatch.

    Read more
  5. OUR NEWS
    17/05/2024

    Amvrakikos Project 2024: Special Call for a Field Leader

    ARCHELON is looking for a highly motivated person to lead its project in Amvrakikos Gulf, one of the few foraging sites for loggerhead turtles in Greece linking several populations nesting across the Mediterranean region.

    Read more
  6. OUR NEWS
    16/05/2024

    Τhe nesting of loggerhead sea turtles started earlier this year and the effects of the climate crisis on the oceans are worrying

    For the first time, in the 40 years of ARCHELON records, the first sea turtle nest was found in Laganas Gulf, Zakythos on May 10th. Scientific predictions of the nesting season moving earlier in the spring due to climate change are being confirmed.

    Read more
  7. OUR NEWS
    14/05/2024

    Save Turtles, See Greece on a Budget

    Dreaming of pristine Greek beaches and a chance to make a real difference? Here's why June and September are the perfect months to volunteer with sea turtle conservation efforts in Greece!

    Read more
  8. OUR NEWS
    02/05/2024

    Sea Turtle Festival for Kids 2024

    Save the date! On Saturday 18 May at 11:00, the ARCHELON Rescue Centre opens its doors to welcome young and old sea turtle friends who want to celebrate, explore, learn, play and travel magically in the Mediterranean Sea. We are waiting for you to strengthen our message for a better and sustainable planet!

    Read more
  9. OUR NEWS
    02/05/2024

    A successful year for the International Sea Turtle Symposium

    The International Sea Turtle Symposium concluded triumphantly this March in Pattaya, Thailand, with ARCHELON actively participating.

    Read more
  10. OUR NEWS
    29/04/2024

    A Morning Beach Patrol with ARCHELON

    The camera lens of Stefanos and Maria of SteMajourneys caught a rare sight in the early morning: a Loggerhead sea turtle nesting! The volunteers in Chania took action right away to protect the nest.

    Read more
  11. OUR NEWS
    26/04/2024

    Protecting sea turtles in Rethymno- Our Ocean, an Ocean of Potential

    The 9th International Conference "Our Ocean", which was held in Athens from April 15 to 17, was successfully completed. ARCHELON had the honor to actively take part in the conference and hosted a side event.

    Read more
  12. OUR NEWS
    12/04/2024

    Coordination for the protection of sea turtles in Rethymno: Local authorities and tourism businesses join forces

    The meeting, which took place on April 5, 2024, in the building of the Regional Unit of Rethymno, touched upon key issues, such as the observance of conservation measures for the protection of the Loggerhead sea turtle. Given the tourist activity on the nesting beaches, the active participation of the tourism sector in the implementation of the measures is necessary.

    Read more
  13. OUR NEWS
    10/04/2024

    "Tourists and turtles?" The environmental awareness campaign of ARCHELON spreads to the nesting beaches of the Loggerhead sea turtle

    After the pandemic, ARCHELON - the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece - is once again mobilizing on the path to sustainable tourism. The aim of the new campaign is to provide information on the appropriate code of conduct for visitors to all nesting beaches, in cooperation with the tourism sector.

    Read more
  14. OUR NEWS
    04/04/2024

    LIFE MareNatura - The largest marine biodiversity program in Greece

    Read more
  15. OUR NEWS
    03/04/2024

    Citizens inform us of sea turtle strandings

    ARCHELON started the effort to record the incidents of dead turtles washing up on the Greek shores in 1992. In recent years there has been an increase in these records which may be due to more of our fellow citizens reporting such incidents. Learn more…

    Read more
1 out of 0
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Learn about our latest actions and find out about our programs and how you can help sea turtles!