As usual at this time of year, more people are out enjoying the sea. This puts them more frequently in contact with sea turtles, which are also more ‘out and about’ in the warm weather. Unfortunately, this contact all too often results in injuries to sea turtles. Many turtles are accidentally caught on fishing lines or in fishing nets. This can lead to ingested hooks and lines and flipper injuries, along with head injuries deliberately inflicted by humans, and injuries caused by collisions with boat propellers. During the month of August, 12 new injured turtles were treated at the Rescue Center for these types of injuries. Unfortunately, two died shortly after their arrival. Many thanks to everyone involved in rescuing these turtles.

Arrivals

‘Freddy’ (Caretta caretta; carapace 35.0 cm long, weight 4.5 kilos), arrived from Salamina on 9 August 2015 with an ingested hook and neck injuries.

‘Sunny’ (Caretta caretta; carapace 67.0 cm long, weight 29.0 kilos), arrived from Lakonikos on 10 August 2015 with a missing flipper and a carapace injury.

‘Aquis’ (Caretta caretta; carapace 81.0 cm long, weight 61.0 kilos), arrived from Corfu on 13 August 2015 with a head injury.

‘Akeso’ (Caretta caretta; carapace 71.5 cm long, weight 31.5 kilos) arrived from Elafonisos on 13 August 2015 with carapace, head, and flipper injuries.

‘Oasis’ (Caretta caretta; carapace 77.0 cm long, weight 49.0 kilos) arrived from Zakynthos on 14 August 2015 with a flipper injury.

‘Mario’ (Caretta caretta; carapace 72.0 cm long, weight 49.5 kilos) arrived from Chios on 15 August 2015 with a head injury.

‘Sam’ (Caretta caretta; carapace 52.0cm long, weight 16.0 kilos) arrived from Vonitsa on 21 August 2015 with a head injury.

‘Persa’ (Caretta caretta; carapace 64.5cm long, weight 22.5 kilos) arrived from Amfiloxia on 22 August 2015 with a head injury.

Deaths

‘Stavroula’ (Caretta caretta; carapace 67.5 cm long, weight 39.0 kilos) arrived from Salamina on 5 August 2015 with eye and carapace injuries. Unfortunately, she died as a result of her injuries a few days later.

‘Katolina’ (Caretta caretta; carapace 39.5 cm long, weight kilos) arrived from nearby Rafina on 7 August 2015. She had flipper injuries, was very weak and appeared to be malnourished. Unfortunately, she died a few days later.

Releases

There were only two releases during August. This is due to the fact that many of the turtles being treated have head injuries, a type of injury which requires a long period of rehabilitation.

On 31 August 2015, ‘Lysistrati’ was released. She had been rescued and sent to the RC on 12 June 2015 by the team at the Management Agency of Karpathos. She had an ingested hook, which was successfully removed, and she is now continuing her life in the sea.

Did you know...

Every year, massive amounts of data about sea turtles in our area is collected by ARCHELON staff, student volunteers and researchers, and researchers from other countries. Their collaboration results in various papers, which are presented at international scientific conferences and/or published in scientific journals. Many of these papers are available as free, downloadable PDFs in English from the ARCHELON website. You can access them via this link: http://www.archelon.gr/eng/bibliography.php?row=row7.