Our News
Lockdown measures eased the egg-laying of sea turtles in Greece but didn’t cause the observed increase of their nests
06/08/2020
ARCHELON has been receiving enquiries from international organizations and nature documentary producers as early as April this year. The last two days many friends, researchers and journalists from Greece and abroad have been asking us about a possible relationship between the lockdown in Greece and the reproduction of loggerhead sea turtles in Greek nesting beaches. Here are the answers to their 4 most frequently asked questions, based on scientific evidence and data that ARCHELON has been collecting without fail since 1984.
ARCHELON has already recorded more than 3,500 loggerhead nests in the Nature Protection Area of Kyparissia bay this summer, but at the phase of hatching, the fate of many of them relies on locals and visitors
05/08/2020
The first nests of this summer in Kyparissia bay have already hatched and hatchlings reached the sea safely…
An unexpected impact of the pandemic: ARCHELON appeals for reduction of light pollution so that hundreds of baby turtles at the sea turtle nesting beaches of Mavrovouni, Selinitsa, Vathi and Valtaki in Lakonikos bay are not lost
03/08/2020
Hatching of the nests of the loggerhead sea turtles laid on the beaches of Mavrovouni, Selinitsa, Valtaki and Vathi of the Lakonikos bay has started and the first hatchlings arrived safely in the sea...
Τurn off the lights at Zaga Memi beach for baby turtles
31/07/2020
Knowing the ecological sensitivity of residents and visitors who support the work of ARCHELON every summer since 1994, we appeal to them for reducing light pollution by turning off or shading the municipal and private artificial lights that shine on the beach, after 11pm each night.
Our Accounts for 2019
2019 was a great year in many ways. First of all, there was a particularly high participation of volunteers in ARCHELON’s projects, coming from abroad and from Greece. In a total of 134 km of beach in Zakynthos, Kyparissia, Crete, southern Peloponnese, Preveza which were systematically surveyed, we recorded 6,400 loggerhead nests and the first green turtle nest (in southern Crete).
The Rescue Center hosted 83 turtles, 26 of which came in previous years. New treatment techniques were tried out and resulted in 43 recovered sea turtles having been released back to the sea, more than any other year.
The publication of research on plastics in sea turtles in Greece, a project in which we participated, confirmed the magnitude of the problem. ARCHELON teams participated in the removal of garbage and abandoned fishing gear in the project areas.
