Eighty-two sea turtles were born last night on the beach of Maiori on the Amalfi coast.
An incredible event that has never occurred in living memory. The baby turtles were noticed as they emerged from the sand and the Nautica Mare Nostrum keeper - western area of the beach near the tourist port - collected them and alerted the competent authorities. The regional coordination that monitors the Caretta caretta nests in Campania, led by the A.Dohrn Zoological Station, immediately intervened.
The police, the staff of the Punta Campanella Marine Protected Area with Domenico Sgambati and the volunteers of Enpa Salerno arrived on site late in the evening. The baby turtles were counted, secured and released, half of them directly into the sea because they continued to swim back up to the beach.
The event is incredible but not entirely unexpected. A couple of months ago, on July 8th to be precise, a female turtle was seen and filmed right in Maiori, while she was trying to lay her eggs among sunbeds and umbrellas, not far from the birthplace of yesterday evening.
Then he gave up and no nest was found. Evidently he tried again not far away, this time with success. The nests in Campania this year have reached the remarkable number of 52, a historical record. Worth noting, in addition to the usual areas of Cilento, are the births on the seafront of Salerno, in Ischia, on the Amalfi coast and numerous nests on the coast north of Naples, in the area of Castelvolturno.
The monitoring network that has been working for years to protect the species in Campania, coordinated by the A.Dohrn Zoological Station, sees the participation of institutions and associations, with many volunteers patrolling the beaches, including the Punta Campanella MPA, which has been committed to safeguarding the species for years, and the foreign kids from Project Mare.
Article published on 16 September 2021 - 12:59
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