Project Title: Collective actions for improving the conservation status of the sea turtle populations
Project acronym: LIFE EUROTURTLES
Web page: https://www.euroturtles.eu/#/
Project Coordinator: Croatian Natural History Museum, Croatia
Partner institutions:
- University of Primorska, Slovenia
- Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
- WWF Italia, Italy
- Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation, Croatia
- University of Cyprus, Cyprus
- Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Cyprus
- Archelon - The Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece, Greece
- Nature Trust Malta, Malta
Participating member of the University of Primorska: University of Primorska, Faculty of mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, Slovenia
Project manager at the University of Primorska: PhD Lazar Bojan
Funding: European Commission, LIFE Programme
Duration: 1. 9. 2016 – 31. 8. 2021
Description:
The project focuses on areas that are pivotal for the conservation of the two sea turtle species occurring in the EU and listed as priority species in Annex II of the Habitats Directive, the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and the green turtle (Chelonia mydas). In the EU, the loggerhead turtle has major nesting sites in Greece and Cyprus, and limited nesting in Italy. Most turtles from these sites remain in the eastern Mediterranean, with key foraging grounds located in EU waters, such as the Adriatic (Italy, Slovenia, Croatia), Ionian (Italy, Greece), and the Levantine basin (Cyprus).
In the EU, the green turtle only breeds in Cyprus, and its foraging grounds in EU waters are in Cyprus and Greece (Casale & Margaritoulis, 2010). Those foraging grounds are also frequented by turtles from other Mediterranean nesting sites.
The nesting sites and foraging grounds located in the EU are extremely important for Mediterranean sea turtles. However, anthropogenic threats are also particularly intensive in the EU, with high coastal development and fishing activities, which combined affect sea turtles at all stages of life, from the critical reproductive phase to all age classes at sea.
The activities of this project are focused on those areas where conservation measures are considered important and urgent, and could make a difference for the sea turtle status at EU, national and local levels. The project includes six EU countries: Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Slovenia.
The aim of the LIFE EUROTURTLES project is to improve the conservation status of the EU populations of two priority sea turtle species, the loggerhead turtle and the green turtle.
