We were delighted to receive members, old and new volunteers and staff as well as friends from other environmental organizations at this ARCHELON event in Plaka, center of Athens, on January 30th.

As in previous years, our actions in 2019 supported the protection of sea turtles and their habitats. Specific elements from the posters for 2019 and the presentations of ARCHELON's coordinators are mentioned below:

• Volunteers operated the information stations in Zakynthos, Crete and Peloponnese and the Public Awareness projects reached an impressive number of 113,000 people.

• The Rescue Center took care of 83 turtles, 26 of which were admitted in previous years. In 2019 we were able to make the highest number of releases ever, with 43 fully recovered turtles having returned to sea.

• Environmental education programs at the Rescue Center received 11,000 pupils and teachers during the 2018 - 2019 school year

• The implementation of actions included in the Life Euroturtles project continued. Four Rescue seminars were organized with the participation of the Coast Guard and fishermen in the Cyclades islands. New satellite tracking of sea turtles and surveillance techniques via satellites and drones were carried out.

• ARCHELON’s volunteer programs had a big impact in 2019 and all speakers warmly thanked our volunteers from many countries around the world, including Greece, for their support. Almost 600 volunteers participated in nesting beach conservation projects and about 150 volunteers supported the Rescue Centre and the Rescue Network. These numbers are bigger than any previous year.

Dimitris Margaritoulis and Thomas Arapis discussed climate change or climate crisis and how it is expected to affect turtle habitats and populations. We heard about the potential impact of sea level rise, changes in the temperature on the sand, extreme weather conditions, changes in feeding grounds and in migration routes.

Well done!