World Sea Turtle Day is celebrated on June 16, an event dedicated to recognizing the importance of these ancient species, raising awareness of the threats they face and promoting their conservation around the world. Different organizations agree that sea turtles are authentic indicators of the health of the ocean and a symbol of the fight for marine biodiversity.

Sea turtles have inhabited the planet for more than 100 million years. Their ability to migrate thousands of kilometres, their role in the balance of marine ecosystems – such as seagrass beds or coral reefs – and their longevity make them fundamental species for the ocean. Of the seven species of sea turtles recognized in the world, five have been cited in Spanish waters, all of them threatened, according to the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO).

Despite their resilience, these species currently face multiple threats, such as plastic pollution, bycatch, climate change or maritime traffic, among others. Added to this is the alteration of the beaches where they nest due to rising sea levels and rising temperatures, which directly affects the sex balance of the hatchlings, since the temperature of the sand determines the gender of the newborn turtles.

Faced with this situation, joint work between administrations, scientific entities, the fishing sector and civil society is essential to guarantee the survival of these species. Sea turtles don’t just need a healthy marine environment: they are also, in themselves, a wake-up call about the state of our ocean.

PROMOTION OF THEIR CONSERVATION

In this context, the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) promotes various actions aimed at the protection of sea turtles and their environment through different programmes and projects financed with national and European funds.

Within the framework of the LIFE INTEMARES project, different actions are being developed to improve knowledge and for the conservation of sea turtles that use our waters, promoted by MITECO, a partner of the project through the General Directorate of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification.

The loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) is a threatened species that is considered of priority interest by the European Union and included in the threat category of “vulnerable” in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species (CEEA).

This species, due to the current situation of global warming, is beginning to use the Spanish coasts as new dispersal areas, through sporadic nesting events on our beaches, especially in the eastern Mediterranean and Balearic Islands. For this reason, the actions developed in the project emphasize guaranteeing the success of these nesting events, including, among other actions, the carrying out of studies of the suitability of coastal sections for incubation of clutches and release of neonates, the development of a common action protocol for the care of these episodes, nest surveillance and training and awareness campaigns for beach users.

On the other hand, given that one of the most important threats faced by this species is accidental capture with fishing gear, the project has marked, for monitoring, specimens rehabilitated in wildlife recovery centers that have been released after suffering amputations due to entanglement with fishing nets or episodes of interaction with bottom trawl fisheries. to check the success of the treatment techniques used. In addition, work is being done on the development of a state database of sightings, strandings and capture-recapture data (tagging and photoidentification) of sea turtles, and a common protocol for the care of these individuals has been drawn up to standardise as far as possible the actions of stranding networks and recovery centres.

Another line of work has focused on the use of genetic tools to improve the knowledge of the populations of origin of the loggerhead turtle individuals that arrive on our coasts, an action that is also being applied in the case of the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), the second most frequent species in our waters and with which we are also working on its satellite monitoring of specimens to improve our knowledge of the species.

In addition, the project also develops scientific research actions on the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in the Canary archipelago through the study of its distribution in the waters of the islands.

A milestone reached in the project has been the approval of the Conservation Strategy for the Loggerhead Turtle and other sea turtles that establishes a roadmap of the actions to be undertaken to improve the conservation status of the five species of sea turtles that exist in our waters: loggerhead turtle, green turtle, leatherback, tortoiseshell, parrot and olive ridley.

Within the framework of the Pleamar Programme, the Biodiversity Foundation has promoted different initiatives aimed at the protection and recovery of sea turtles. All these projects have been executed by the Foundation for the Conservation and Recovery of Marine Animals – CRAM, with the active participation of fishermen.

This is the case of FAVOMAR, a project co-financed by the European and Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF), whose objective was to involve fishermen in the implementation of actions for the recovery and conservation of the different species of sea turtle in the protected area of the Ebro Delta. 97% of the turtles collected within the framework of this project were successfully recovered, with a total of 62 transfers from the fishing ports of the SCI (Site of Community Importance) of the Ebro Delta to the species recovery centre.

This project was followed up by FAVOMAR II, also co-financed by the EMFF. The objective of the initiative was to continue supporting actions by fishermen for the recovery and conservation of sea turtles in the SCIs of the province of Tarragona. The actions carried out served to increase the survival of sea turtles accidentally captured by trawlers near the areas of the Ebro Delta. The initiative highlighted the high incidence of accidental catches in that area compared to other ports in the province of Tarragona.

Currently, and with the co-financing of the European Maritime Fund for Fisheries and Aquaculture, the third phase of FAVOMAR is being executed, whose purpose is to implement fishing training and awareness actions to mitigate the effect of accidental catches of different species of marine fauna, including sea turtles.

Within the framework of the European Union-funded Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP) – NextGenerationEU, the Biodiversity Foundation also promotes several initiatives that contribute to the conservation of sea turtles.

In the first place, the CETAMED NORTE initiative stands out, beneficiary of the 2021 call for grants to promote research on biodiversity, which seeks to expand knowledge about the turtles and cetaceans that inhabit the northern area of the Mediterranean Cetacean Migration Corridor with the aim of obtaining data that can be used in future management plans.

That same year, the call for grants for the reinforcement of stranding networks was published, which provides support to initiatives aimed at rescuing stranded marine animals in different parts of the Spanish coast. In particular, the RedTorCan project works to strengthen the systems for the care of stranded sea turtles in the Canary Islands, identifying potential threats and impacts, in order to disseminate verified information on the situation of marine fauna in the archipelago.

In 2022, another line of aid is published to promote research on biodiversity. One of the projects in this call is INGENI-CARETTA, which studies the nesting of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in the western Mediterranean to provide a scientific information base for the conservation of this species in a climate change scenario.

Thanks to these lines of work, progress is made towards a more effective management of the marine environment, in line with international commitments on biodiversity. World Sea Turtle Day reminds us that if we want a healthy ocean, we must also protect those who inhabit them.