The Sea Turtle Rescue Centre in Glyfada and the Turtles of the Aegean Sea.
The Sea Turtle Rescue Centre was built by ARCHELON in 1994 with the help of the Municipality of Glyfada, where it is located. Injured turtles are sent here from all coastal areas of Greece with the help of fishermen, locals, and the port police who find them and arrange their transportation.
Unfortunately, more than 350 sea turtles donʼt make it to the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre each year; they are found dead in the seas and on the beaches of Greece. ARCHELON interacts with fishing associations, other non-governmental organizations, the state and individuals with the goal to reduce sea turtle mortality and assist in their conservation, with environmental education a significant activity towards this goal.
Its location in the suburbs of Athens has made the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre an important destination for environmental education. More than 10,000 school children and adults of all ages visit the Rescue Centre each year to see these ancient mariners and understand what “threatened by extinction” means. ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece, was founded in 1983 with the aim of protecting sea turtles and their habitats and raising public awareness about them and the threat of their extinction. It is a non-governmental and non-profit organization registered as a charity in Greece. It receives no state or EU funding, although the protection of sea turtles is a moral, legal, and constitutional obligation of the state.
Please donate to ARCHELON and help us save the sea turtles of the Mediterranean Sea. Visit ARCHELONʼs web site for further information: www.archelon.gr
There are currently 15 turtles at the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre, with a variety of injuries and durations of stay. The following paragraphs are a short presentation of 8 turtles which were found in the Northern, Central and Southern Aegean Sea, written by the volunteers who treat them.
Cleo by Rebecca Langstrom and Duncan Howitt-Marshall.
She was moved out in one of the big tanks in the end of September but is now inside the green house, where we can control the water temperature over the winter.
Except for being an unusually social turtle, Cleo is quite a hazard when you take the water temperature, because if youʼre not careful, she just might try to eat the thermometer and your hand with it.
Kanella by Rebecca Langstrom.
So when Kanella came to the centre in July, he had a bone poking out that needed to be amputated. The first attempt failed because the anaesthetics did not make him sleep completely. The amputation took place in November, when an Italian surgical vet team came over to operate Kanella and four other turtles. After the surgery Kanella was pretty slow and did not really want to eat.
He got slowly better with the eating but the wound did not look right, even though we were treating it every day. When our vet, Lyto, took a look at it and realized that it had been infected inside, she started to take out the not healing tissue.
The wound was pretty bad, so we took Kanella to Lytoʼs clinic where she had the proper instruments to close the wound. Afterwards, Kanella got to spend the night in the office with a nice heater. Kanella is now back in the tank, he is getting antibiotics and thankfully is still eating and getting better.
Kostas by Johannes Kupke.
It is not possible to repair Kostas vision, because both his eyes were brutally removed with a sharp object.
Marina by Johannes Kupke.
Even more positive I can see the impression I got of her in the last half of a year I have been in Greece: No hint of all this difficulties any more. Tubefeeding would take us volunteers a big effort (she has 85kg and had 55 when she arrived). Fortunately, Marina eats continuously fish. Her head injury is almost healed and because she swam in the biggest of ARCHELONʼs tanks in the summer time, she was the most presentable turtle.
Marina was the reason for wide open mouths of kids and adults. As soon as she loses her incline (head down tendency) our biggest turtle of the Rescue Centre will be released in the freedom of the sea. We are quite confident and optimistic that it will happen next spring, when she has the chance to swim in the outside tanks of ARCHELON again, where it is too cold for the animals in the winter time.
Mina by Molly McCharger.
Pothea by Ida Kotjerba.
Pothea is much better now and hopefully we can release her in May when the sea is warm enough. She is a very nice turtle.
Aristotelis by Ida Kotjerba and Nikos Vallianos.
His length is around 40cm and his initial weight was 8kg. He wouldnʼt eat on his own, but he was tube-fed with mashed fish. Since summer 2010 he has been eating on his own and has already gained some weight. His wounds are also much better and we hope to release him as soon as summer starts.
Damaskinia by Nikos Vallianos.
Edited and tranlsated by Nikos Vallianos with input from Wilhelm Bodmark, Rebecca Langstrom, Johannes Kupke, Lindsey Death, Ida Kotjerba, Molly McCharger, Duncan Howitt-Marshall, Pavlos Tsaros, and Nikos Vallianos. Photos taken by Theodoros Benos-Palmer.
A group of sixth grade pupils witness the degradation of our environment as a result of road construction
Turtles from Western Greece currently treated at the Rescue Centre in Glyfada
RECENT NEWS
- OUR NEWS15/09/2023
Lilo, the tiny green turtle, made it back to the sea!
In November 2021 a small green turtle arrived at the ARCHELON Rescue Centre with a very serious head injury. After almost two years of intensive care, one Wednesday in September 2023 he was finally discharged and returned to the sea!
- OUR NEWS17/08/2023
World record of 37 years of reproductive life for a loggerhead sea turtle in Zakynthos, Greece – increased number of nests this summer, says ARCHELON
ARCHELON – the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece announces an important outcome of the systematic work of this year's sea turtle nest monitoring team in Zakynthos. Based on their long-term observations, ARCHELON managed to certify a new World Record of reproductive activity for loggerhead turtles.
- OUR NEWS07/08/2023
ATTENTION! Sea turtles are not pets: Do not touch them or feed them!
The Municipality of Eastern Mani and the Port Authorities requested the assistance of ARCHELON to inform beach users in the area of Limeni, near Mani, where 35 new incidents of sea turtle attacks on sea bathers have been recorded during this summer season. These are added to the already long list of 200 such records of previous years found in the nearby Health Center in Areopolis.
- OUR NEWS01/08/2023
Interview with a volunteer: Lea Heinen, Rescue Centre
Interview with a volunteer: Lea Heinen, Rescue Centre Lea shares her experience volunteering at the ARCHELON Sea Turtle Rescue Centre: “I think when a turtle starts to eat after a month of trying, when you can see the improvement or healing of a turtle's injury and when a turtle is released back into the sea, into its natural habitat, into its home - then you know that you are indeed saving turtles”.
- OUR NEWS21/07/2023
Kids Beach Competition 2023: Make your own little sea turtle with natural materials and send us a photo!
Help us spread the message about the protection of sea turtles by making your own baby turtles with natural materials you will find on the beach. Sand, stones, pebbles, shells, seaweed, sticks and whatever else you have available, can be transformed with a little imagination! Take a photo of your work and send it to the ARCHELON Beach Competition.
- OUR NEWS18/07/2023
Paving the way for next steps in conservation of marine turtles in the Mediterranean region
Last week the partner organizations of the project “Conservation of Marine Turtles in the Mediterranean Region” met for the 9th Steering Committee Meeting. The meeting was organized by SPA/RAC in the area of Kyparissia Bay, Greece on the 4th and 5th of July, 2023 in collaboration with ARCHELON.
- OUR NEWS04/07/2023
An offer to EXPERIENCED volunteers: You can now join the beach projects for 2-3 weeks!
The time is just right to join the projects again, even if you have only 2 or 3 weeks of available time. This offer is valid for August, September, October 2023. Apply through our new website and find out more about the dates and places you can join. More…
- OUR NEWS22/06/2023
The nesting season has begun! Learn what you can do if you find sea turtle tracks or nests on the beach
The nesting season for the loggerhead sea turtles has begun. The nests that are made in the areas monitored by ARCHELON and other collaborating groups are already being recorded. However, if you find tracks or nests on other beaches, you can also participate in the effort to record and protect these sporadic nests. Find out why it's important…
- OUR NEWS16/06/2023
A breath away from registering a new world record on the years of known active reproduction of a loggerhead sea turtle is ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece
This is the year when ARCHELON, a nonprofit environmental NGO, is celebrating 40 years of continuous and targeted action to save sea turtles in Greece and the Mediterranean. At the same time, the project teams of ARCHELON are ready to register the longest period of active reproduction known for the Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), in case it happens this year!
- OUR NEWS15/06/2023
A Saturday unlike any other - Turtle Festival 2023
ARCHELON invites kids and adults to celebrate the environment and the sea in an exciting way at the "Sea Turtle Festival" on Saturday, May 27 at the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre in the 3rd Marina of Glyfada.
- OUR NEWS07/06/2023
Announcement for all past volunteers of ARCHELON: Shall we meet this September?
Highlight: Hi everyone! This year marks 40 years of ARCHELON’s action for protecting sea turtles in Greece. During these four decades, thousands of volunteers from many countries joined our sea turtle projects and the Rescue Centre to help save the turtles. Let’s meet again this coming September and celebrate the animals we saved during all these years.
- OUR NEWS07/04/2023
Waiting list for schools that want to visit the ARCHELON Rescue Centre
Thousands of Greek students visit the Centre and get informed about the value of protecting the environment through contact with a particularly beloved animal, the sea turtle. "All the available visiting hours until the end of the 2022-2023 school year have been booked, but there is a waiting list that is activated in case of cancellations", says Anna Kontoleon, ARCHELON’s Education Officer. More hours for online tours may be added in May if volunteers become available.
- OUR NEWS28/03/2023
People are supporting wildlife conservation
The donations and "adoptions" made at the Rescue Centre in Glyfada, Attica and at ARCHELON’s field projects in Zakynthos, the Peloponnese and Crete in 2022, reached the amount of €350,000. We did a lot last year thanks to all these people, who also made it possible for us to continue this year.
- OUR NEWS24/03/2023
Gail Schofield
We learned with deep sadness the passing away of Gail Schofield, a pronounced sea turtle researcher and former ARCHELON volunteer. Read more…
- OUR NEWS20/03/2023
More than half of the rehabilitated sea turtles got released back to the sea in 2022!
The Sea Turtle Rescue Centre of ARCHELON in Glyfada rescues, takes care of and rehabilitates injured sea turtles from all parts of Greece since 1994. More than half of the sea turtles that were under care at the Rescue Centre in 2022 got released back to the sea after reaching full recovery this year! Read more…