ARCHELON together with the Municipality of Rethymno, are informing beach visitors what to do in case the encounter hatchlings on the each during the day. Water should not be poured over them, nor should they be transported to the sea, as it is crucial that hatchlings walk their way to the sea by themselves. Shading them and leveling the sand in front of them until they reach the sea are the only things humans should do at this point.

This is the time to ask that artificial lights near nesting beaches are turned off. The moment the first hatchlings start their long and tough journey is a milestone for our projects, the turning point for the efforts of ACHELON and our collaborating partners. To find their way to the sea hatchlings follow the reflections of the moon and the starts on the sea. Artificial lights disorient hatchlings and eventually causes their death on the land.

Everybody on the beaches is reminded that management measures must be continually enforced, as nesting continues taking place at the beach at the same time as the first nests are hatching. Beach furniture must be removed every night until mid-October. During the same period, the movement of heavy vehicles, leveling of sand, washing of beach furniture and night parties must be avoided on nesting beaches .

In case you are curious to see how a loggerhead nest looks like and maybe a few late hatchlings, stay tuned with us for the scheduled public nest excavation events. The program will be announced for each nesting site on Crete separately and will be shown weekly on the web pages of the respective municipalities and in ARCHELON’s official website. Information will also be available from the Information Kiosks of ARCHELON in the Venician harbor of Rethymno, the Old Harbour of Chania and at the entrance of Matala.

Information:

Rethymno Municipality**,** www . rethymno . gr

ARCHELON, www.archelon.gr Odysseas Paxinos, Crete Project Coordinator, tel.: 6937352379, archelon . crete @ archelon . com