For the last 30 years, ARCHELON has been carrying out sea turtle protection actions at the beautiful beaches of Messara bay, in Crete. Every morning trained volunteers walk on the 8 km long nesting beaches I order to locate the exit tracks of the adult females and their nests. Almost two months after marking a nest, they re-visit it in order to locate and protect the hatchlings which emerge at night.

The high summer temperatures did not stop the “turtlers”: about 110 sea turtle nests were recorded and thousands of baby turtles found their way to the sea in 2022 with the help of the volunteers/researchers that participated. Colette Ballantyne, Shannon Evans, and Fengus Lang were the field leaders who trained and coordinated the volunteers in the field in recording and protecting the nests, in public awareness actions, and in the organisation of the camp.

"All participants, field leaders, volunteers from afar, and local volunteers coped with the difficulties and thus we managed to protect all the nests and the baby turtles. Thank you very much for all the energy you put into the project", says Lydia Koutrouditsou, the Project Officer of Crete.

The beach in Matala is famous for the painted caves in the rocks and the hippies of the 70s. Very close to the sea turtle nesting beach are the Minoan palace of Phaistos and the archaeological site of Komos. There are many visitors due to the archaeological sites and the tourists in the area prefer mostly alternative tourism destinations.

"Intense touristic development and activity on the sea turtle nesting beaches are observed only in certain places at Messara bay, and we try to focus on solutions to the issues raised due to tourism" explains Lydia. ARCHELON volunteers informed almost 2000 visitors about the protection of the sea turtles on beaches, in informative screenings, in hotels, and at the ARCHELON Information Station in Matala.

The conservation project in Messara bay for 2023 has already been announced. If you are interested to participate in the project and protect the sea turtle nests and hatchlings learn more here here.

You can also download the brochure with the 2023 projects.