Ocean Sentry
(From burnham-on-sea.com)- An environmental association in the Anamur district of the Mediterranean coastal province Mersin is encouraging people to donate YTL 10 to protect loggerhead sea turtle nests along the coast. Oğuzhan Alıçlı, chairman of the Environment, Nature and Tourism Association (AÇED), said endangered loggerhead sea turtles, which have the scientific name Caretta caretta, nesting along Anamur shore are threatened by environmental pollution and that the association launched the 2008 Caretta caretta Protection Project to help the turtles survive.
Every YTL 10 donation would mean adopting a Caretta caretta nest and helping the baby sea turtles until they are released into the sea safely, Alıçlı said. “The money environmentalists donate will be spent on the protection of baby sea turtles from when they hatch to when they are released into the sea,” he said.
Alıçlı also said the Anamur shore is the most suitable region for the loggerhead turtles to lay their eggs in Turkey and that they have protected 808 Caretta caretta nests this year. Alıçlı said the association found 679 sea turtle nests, mostly of loggerheads, last year and enabled 30,000 baby sea turtles to reach the sea alive, which shows the importance of the region for the species.
The project is carried out in collaboration with the Directorate of Anamur National Parks and with the approval of the Provincial Environment and Forestry Directorate.
