Life MEDTURTLES Meeting in Turkey: An umbrella meeting for the conservation of marine turtles in Easter Mediterranean Region

 A comprehensive meeting on the conservation of sea turtles in the Eastern Mediterranean took place during the last week of August in Dalyan, hosted by DEKAMER.

The purpose of the meeting was to present to key stakeholders, the efforts undertaken by DEKAMER to protect the sea turtle population of the Eastern Mediterranean and the scientific methodologies implemented.

Under the umbrella of Life MEDTURTLE project, which targets the EU populations of two sea turtle species, Caretta caretta  (Loggerhead turtle) and Chelonia Mydas  (Green turtle) the correlations and synergies with other conservation projects were presented to stakeholders, namely the “Medbycatch” project and the “Conservation of Marine Turtles in the Mediterranean Region” project.  The Medbycatch project aims at reducing the rate if incidentally caught vulnerable species (like sea turtles, marine mammals, sea birds, sharks& rays and corals & sponges) in the Mediterranean, thus contributing to sustainable fisheries. The “Conservation of Marine Turtles in the Mediterranean Region” evolves in 13 Mediterranean countries and aims at eliminating human induced sea turtle mortality. Both these projects are funded by MAVA Foundation.

Forty-five (45) key stakeholders attended the meeting and were introduced to sea turtle conservation activities and methodologies. Moreover, they had the chance to participate to field work, as Dr. Yakup Kaska and its team released three satellite tagged Caretta caretta sea turtles into the Mediterranean Sea. Valuable data regarding foraging and overwintering grounds will be collected through the satellite transmitters empowering the knowledge on sea turtles.

DEKAMER would like to thank the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization and the MAVA Foundation for constantly supporting their scientific projects