The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), coordinator of the project LIFE Intemares, participated today in the release of two loggerhead turtle individuals or common (Caretta caretta) after their admission and recovery at the Wildlife Recovery Center (CRFS) “El Valle”, managed by the Region of Murcia. Both individuals have suffered amputations of some of their limbs due to accidental interaction with fishing gear.

The turtles have been tagged with satellite transmitters. provided by the project, in collaboration with the Oceanogràfic Foundation, to determine their behavior, their degree of survival and to obtain other information of interest with a double objective: to check the effectiveness of the recovery actions carried out in the centers and to improve the knowledge of the recovered individuals after their release and return to the natural environment.

The release, which took place in the Regional Park of Salinas de San Pedro del Pinatar, in the Region of Murcia, with the participation of the deputy director of Biodiversity and Climate Change of the Biodiversity Foundation and director of LIFE Intemares, Ignacio Torres, is part of one of the actions promoted by MITECO within this project, aimed at ensuring a sustainable and sustainable favorable conservation status of species of community interest. In the case of the loggerhead turtle, a major effort is being made to improve the management and conservation of the species throughout its life cycle.

In addition to carrying out measures to ensure the survival of the species, the project has also implemented other actions to improve knowledge of its conservation status and to ensure the success of sporadic nesting events.

Finally, one of the most important milestones promoted by MITECO in coordination with the autonomous communities, the scientific community and social agents, has been the preparation of the loggerhead sea turtle conservation strategy and other sea turtles in Spain, approved in 2022, and the conservation plan for loggerhead turtles, currently under development.

An endangered species

The loggerhead sea turtle(Caretta caretta) is a highly migratory sea turtle species whose populations are in an unfavorable conservation status. Internationally, it is classified in the “Vulnerable” category by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as well as in the lists of many international conventions and agreements to which Spain is a party, such as Bern, Bonn, OSPAR, Barcelona and CITES, among others.

Similarly, at the European level, the loggerhead turtle is considered a priority species of community interest, requiring strict protection and the designation of Special Areas of Conservation. At the national level, it is listed as “Vulnerable” in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species, which implies the need to establish specific conservation measures.

Effective management of marine protected areas

The LIFE INTEMARES project is moving towards the objective of achieving effective management of the marine areas of the Natura 2000 Network, with the active participation of the sectors involved and with research as the basic tools.

The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge coordinates the project. Participating as partners are the Ministry itself, through the General Directorate of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification and the Subdirectorate for the Protection of the Sea; the Regional Government of Andalusia, through the Department of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy, as well as the Environment and Water Agency; the Spanish Institute of Oceanography; AZTI; the University of Alicante; the Polytechnic University of Valencia; the Spanish Fishing Confederation, SEO/BirdLife and WWF Spain. It is supported by the LIFE Program of the European Union.