THE LARA TURTLE PROJECT, CYPRUS

by David Hands

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As the sun goes down the sandy beach springs into a new life.  Ghost crabs emerge from the sand and head towards the open sea; marine turtles are making their way to the shore. The Fisheries personnel and students from all over the world start preparing for another long night. Armed with night vision goggles, red light torches, and a notebook they head out in search of the turtles. It’s summer time on the island of Cyprus and the cool evening sea breeze is a nice welcome by all. The silhouetted group advances in silence, their footsteps drowned in the sound of the waves crashing against the sandy beach. They stop often to look, having a peak through the goggles scanning the shoreline, searching. Andreas Demetropoulos heads the group. He has spent many summers walking, watching and documenting the life of the Green and the Loggerhead turtles. He knows this beaches well, he has walked them often, but you can still sense his anticipation and excitement of the thought of finding another turtle, just like it must have been on that very first day, when it all begun.

In Cyprus there are two marine turtles, the Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta). Both these turtles but especially the Green Turtle are at the brink of extinction. Through the years they have faced many threats. Up to the middle of this century there was a big demand for turtle soup and large numbers of turtles from the Eastern Mediterranean were killed and shipped to Europe to satisfy this demand. In 1971 the Cyprus Government declared the turtles and their eggs a protected species. The turtle was safe from hunting but a new threat immerged.

The world was becoming smaller; people started traveling to remote sunny destinations to enjoy the sun, the beach and the sea. Cyprus, recovering from a foreign military invasion in 1974, welcomed the holidaymakers. Hotels, restaurants and other tourist facilities started taking over the once beautiful landscape. One of Cyprus' main attractions was and still is the long sandy beaches and the blue waters of the Mediterranean. But the sandy beaches so much enjoyed by tourists are also a necessity for the survival of the turtles. The land war between developers and turtles has begun.

Turtles are an ancient group of reptiles that has "reversed" its evolution and returned to the sea. This reverse process is however incomplete, the turtle even though it adapted well to the sea it stills needs to breathe air and still needs to lay it’s eggs on land. But the sandy beaches that once have been the breading place for them has shrunk and now they only have few kilometers of beach left to reproduce. In 1976 the Fisheries department of the Cyprus Government saw the danger and a project was conceived to help the marine turtles. The project was launched two years later and a seasonal station on the west shore of the island -one of the few remaining spots that turtles lay their eggs in safety- was set up. Money came from the Cyprus Government and donors and the aim of the project was and still is to protect the eggs, the hatchlings, the adult turtles and the nesting beaches and to monitor and record the turtle population and nesting activity.

The group comes to a stand still. In the distance spotted by the night vision goggles there is a female digging. Andreas gets on his knees and slowly and silently crawls closer. He stays low and once he realizes that the turtle has only now started digging her nest he slowly retreats. If the turtle senses any kind of danger she will abandon laying and return to the sea. They all sit there patiently, nobody talking, just waiting and taking in the serenity of the surroundings. Andreas again makes his way to the female and this time he signals that it is OK, and the rest of the group, all on their knees, all silent follow his trail. Once the turtle starts laying her eggs then even under the presence of humans she will continue until it is all over. It is an amazing sight, watching a turtle lay her eggs, this large marine creature making its small contribution to the survival of its own species.

From close distance a tag is visible on this female's flipper, an indication that she has been here before. If the staff come across a mature turtle then they tag it in order to trace it and follow its behavior. Turtles lay their eggs on the beach that they hatched on. This is now a known fact, but still the imprinting mechanism that allows them to know where to go is still a mystery. Turtles lay every 2-5 years on the same beach and this female has been here before. Seeing a tagged turtle is like seeing an old friend and that brings great satisfaction.

The turtle lays about 100 eggs in a 50-70 cm deep hole. After she has finished she covers the hole throwing sand over it using her flippers and once she is happy that the nest is safe she makes her way back to the sea. She may return later as they can lay 3-5 times in the same breeding season.

Once the turtle is back safe into the dark sea, a piece of wood marks the nest's location. Tomorrow they will come here again and place a specially designed cage and a sign reading in both Greek and English "Turtle Nest do not disturb" The cage is designed to let the hatchlings out when they are born but keeps foxes away. Foxes enjoy turtle eggs and if they find a nest then very skillfully dig the nest out and eat the yokes. A sad sight in the early morning light is a hole in the sand and hundred’s of eggshells lying there crashed. But due to the invention of this cage this is becoming a rare sight on the West Coast. But on the north coast where turtles still lay eggs in semi-developed areas more than 80% of the nests are found dug up and eaten.

If the nest found is on a highly populated tourist beach or if it is too close to the shore then the nest is dug up and the eggs very carefully are re-located to the hatchery. That is at the seasonal station on Lara beach. There inside a fenced area a new hole is dug at the exact depth of the original nest as sex determination depends on the incubation temperature. Incubation at 29-30 Celsius results in the half the hatchlings been male and the other half female. Low temperatures will result in male hatchlings and higher temperatures in female. The eggs are also counted and recorded.

About seven weeks later the first hatchlings start emerging from the sand. They come up under the protection of the night and make their way towards the sea. The hatchlings are attracted towards the brightest light near the nest, and at night the light reflected off the sea is brighter than the light reflected off the land. But if there is nearby development then the hatchlings will move away from the sea and make their way towards the light source and that has devastating results. Their journey from the nest to the water is far from easy, predators like crabs and birds are on a constant watch for the young and fragile turtles. And once they make it to the sea then they have to face fish. Few turtles make it to adulthood but that number so far has kept the species alive.

Each year an average of 7000 hatchlings of both species is released from the reserve alone. Another 7000 Loggerhead hatchlings reach the sea from protected nests on the north coast. These numbers are at least 4-10 the numbers that would normally reach the sea if the nests were not protected.

                                                                                                                                            The reserve is located in the peninsula of Akamas a large unspoiled area of natural wonders. Mountains that reach all the way down to the sea, deep caves full of   local species of bats, forests with rare orchids, a large selection of reptiles are but a few of the reasons that this land should remain unspoiled. We humans should see this and we should learn to live in harmony with our surroundings. We need these wild areas in order to learn more about ourselves. This is as much a part of us as the air we breathe. And as, so bitterly, we often discover, it is a lot easier to destroy than it is to create.

Back at the base late at night everybody has gone to sleep. A small kerosene lamp provides the only light as Andreas checks his data and marks his new findings knowing that all this data that has been collected over the years is vital in order to understand more about this ancient creature.

Throughout the centuries no matter how many threats this species has had, it has still managed to survive. But as it is the human threat that is so large, maybe this time the turtles will lose. I stay in hope that projects like this one will always exist and somehow provide some security not only for the turtles but also for all other endangered species. And who knows, maybe one day the word endangered will be at the brink of extinction.

Information kindly given by Andreas Demetropoulos (also thanks for the photograph of the female turtle laying eggs) 

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