SSRP Abstract

Board 25: Loggerhead Sea Turtle Conservation in Greece

Student Scientist: Hannah Cox ’24
Research Mentor: John Krygier (OWU Department of Environment & Sustainability)

Sea turtle conservation and research is essential work being done for the overall health of the Loggerhead Sea Turtle population nesting in Kyparissia Bay, Greece. My hands-on involvement with Loggerhead Sea Turtles in Greece while interning for Global Vision International (GVI), we assisted Archelon (The Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece) in their 30 year long conservation efforts for the vulnerable population. The population of sea turtles have been steadily increasing since the founding of Archelon in 1983.

In the west coast of the Peloponnese in Greece lies Kyparissia Bay, 44 km of sandy nesting beaches for one of the largest Loggerhead Sea Turtle populations in the Mediterranean Sea. Global Vision International (GVI) has aided Archelon (the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece) since 2016 in their conservation efforts of the Loggerhead population. During the nesting and hatching season, GVI covers two of the eleven total beaches along Kyparissia Bay. While being there for four weeks during the beginning of the 2022 nesting season, I assisted GVI and Archelon members obtain nesting data. We went on daily morning surveys to locate and protect loggerhead nests with grids or cages from being disturbed by predators. If the nest was measured under 14 meters from the sea, it was deemed vulnerable to inundation of seawater and relocated further back from the ocean. This work has been done every year for the past 39 years. Since the founding of Archelon, there has been a gradual increase in the number of nests laid each year. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that due to the conservation work Archelon, and now GVI, are doing in Kyparissia Bay, the Loggerhead population is not declining but steadily increasing.