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Why Sea Turtles? Why protection? Why Dalyan? Why Foundation?
So many questions, so
many needs…
Why Sea Turtles?
The Loggerhead Sea
Turtles (Caretta caretta) in the Mediterranean is a marine reptile of
about 100cm carapace and ~ 80kg weight when adult. Their lifespan is up
to 65 years and they mature between their 17. and 30. year. They mate in
shallow waters in front of sandy beaches, where then they go to lay
about 15kg eggs, buried in the sand where they are hatched by the sun
May- June. The hatchlings have to get to the sea, to which they are
attracted by the glittering of moon and stars. If they do not make it
before the sun comes up, they dry out and/or are eaten by predators.
Every female Loggerhead comes back to the beach they were hatched to lay
their eggs, when mature. (More about the Loggerhead Turtle see links
below)
The Mediterranean
Loggerhead Sea Turtle has not much of a lobby. It is around for more
than 95.000 years- but its future is bleak. It needs solicitors and
advocates. It needs caretakers. It needs people who love them…
Nearly 30 years ago
"Kaptan" June Haimoff, as she is respectfully and lovingly called by the
people of Dalyan, set her foot on of the main sea turtle breeding
beaches in Turkey and was intrigued by the "tank like tracks" she saw on
this long spit of sand in front of the Dalyan Delta. Discovering their
origin, watching her first Loggerhead laying eggs and falling in love
with this rather ungainly, old worldly and so vulnerable creature all
happened in a flash. The fight, she and her friends put up against the
degradation of the Loggerhead's habitat with a hotel complex
construction actually already well on its way, is described in her book
"Kaptan June and the Turtles" (Inkilap, 2006) and on her personal
website
www.kaptanjune.net.
Why protection?
Threats to the loggerheads are manifold:
v
They are caught in nets and fishing
lines, they are bashed to keep them from rupturing these nets and lines…
v
They are killed for their meat in some
places; in others people make cradles and other handcraft products from
their carapace…
v
They are heavily injured or killed by
propellers…
v
Their eggs are dug out by predators
like foxes, jackals, feral cats and dogs- and by humans…
v
Their hatchlings are threatened by the
sun, by gulls and predating mammals…
v
Their habitats are destroyed, their
nesting beaches degraded…
Why Kaptan June Sea
Turtle Conservation Foundation?
Seeing more and more
touristic development and less and less love of nature, Kaptan June
finally got some of her friends, well versed in nature conservation and
other necessary skills, together to found the "Kaptan June Sea Turtle
Conservation Foundation". As Kaptan June followed the turtle's tracks
so many years ago, we are following in her tracks to make the
life of the Mediterranean Loggerhead better and ensure its survival as
far as we can…
Why Dalyan?
Dalyan is, together
with Zakynthos/ Greece and some beaches in Libya, one of the main
breeding beaches in Turkey. There are other beaches, too, but the Dalyan
Delta has the ideal conditions for the Loggerheads, a long delta spit,
fine dry sand, sun, shallow water to mate and to give the hatchlings a
chance to actually survive…
And- we think that
everybody should first 'sweep their own doorstep' and Kaptan June has,
together with many others, already laid a nice base for the turtle's
protection. So, here we are…
The following links about the Loggerhead
Turtle (Caretta caretta) we found informative:
Wikipedia
Euroturtle
Scientamarina
WWF
NOAA
MedAsset
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