On February 14th, ARCHELON members and staff gathered in the friendly venue of Patakis bookstore in Athens, for the presentation of ARCHELON’s results in the 2018 projects. Friends from other environmental organizations and collaborators also joined us, as well as current volunteers of our rescue network and environmental education program.

The presentation started with data and information collected by 510 volunteers during the 2018 summer projects. We learned that about 6000 loggerhead Caretta caretta nests were recorded on the 134 km of beach surveyed by ARCHELON’s teams on Zakynthos, Crete and the Peloponnese. Significant pressures persisted in the project areas, despite an improvement in removing beach furniture at night. Vehicles moving on nesting beaches remains a problem and the presence of artificial lighting on beaches is still a major threat.

The education team at the Rescue Center near Athens, organized 329 presentations during the school year 2017-2018. Thirty (30) rescued turtles have returned to sea, and 26 remain under treatment at the Rescue Center. In total, 114 volunteers supported the rescue network, turtle treatment and environmental education programs at the Rescue Center. Special reference was made of 5 people who are residents of Attica and were able to spend valuable time for the injured turtles in addition to the part-time volunteer duties they undertook.

The discussion between Dimitris Margaritoulis and Thomas Arapis on the significance of the high number of Caretta caretta nests during 2018 in the Mediterranean sparked the interest of those attending. We were informed that the fluctuations observed in the numbers of loggerhead nests each year are attributed to environmental factors that affect the wintering and foraging marine areas. Combined data from other countries show that almost 50% of the Caretta caretta nests in the Mediterranean each year are made in Greece, but these turtles winter in Tunisia or the north Adriatic. The comparison of the number of nests from 1983 to date has shown that 2018 is not a record year for Zakynthos or Kyparissiakos gulf and unfortunately does not show any change in the decreasing trend of number of nests on Crete.

After the interesting and emotional snapshots that were presented, we were informed that a fairy tale titled "A Love Story in the Mediterranean" was published and released for ARCHELON’s 35th anniversary. In the end, the New Years Cake was cut and the lucky coin was found by Mr. Dimitris Kalaitzidakis, Chief Operating Officer of GRECOTEL, a friend of ARCHELON for many years. Wishing a great year to everyone!

For more information on the results of 2018 visit:

https://www.archelon.gr/eng/proresults.php?mid=5&mid2=12