Turtles, the information campaign of “Caretta in Vista” starts in the Sorrento Peninsula and Amalfi Coast
On May 16 and 17, two awareness days for the beach resorts and children of Meta di Sorrento and Maiori. Interventions by the Punta Campanella MPA, the A.Dohrn Zoological Station and the Port Authority. Monitoring of the nests begins in June.
An unmistakable trail, similar to that of a small tractor on the sand. It is the track left by a mother turtle to lay her eggs on the beach. It is essential to recognize it, to avoid the nest being destroyed involuntarily, especially on crowded beaches in the summer months. For this reason, the Punta Campanella MPA, together with the A.Dohrn Zoological Station, the Port Authority and the municipalities of Meta di Sorrento and Maiori, has organized two days of information and awareness on the Sorrento peninsula and the Amalfi coast.
Next Monday the experts will be in Meta di Sorrento, at the Marinella beach. With them will be the commander Valerio Massimo Acanfora of the Port Authority of Castellammare di Stabia and Marco Caputo, commander of the CP of Meta. The owners of the beach establishments, the lifeguards, the night watchmen and some local associations will be shown how to recognize the tracks and the behaviors to adopt to protect nesting females. Afterwards it will be the turn of the children of the elementary schools to receive the necessary information to recognize the presence of a nest on the beach.
The initiative will be repeated the following day, May 17, in Maiori, at the Town Hall. Here too, staff from the Punta Campanella Marine Protected Area, the A.Dohrn Zoological Station and the Port Authority, with Commander Gennaro Spinelli, will show beach managers, local associations and children how to recognize nest traces and how to behave if a turtle is nesting on the beach.
The two seaside locations of the Sorrento peninsula and the Amalfi coast were not chosen by chance. Here, in fact, in recent years, completely surprisingly, 2 nests have been identified: in 2019 in Meta and last year in Maiori.
"Our monitoring network will mainly deal with the areas where a large number of nests are recorded every year, we are talking about Cilento, in particular Ascea, Marina di Camerota, Palinuro and the Domitian coast, Castelvoltuno area.
In these areas there are huge beaches that are particularly suitable for nesting and the forces in the field do not allow us to organize continuous monitoring elsewhere - they say from the coordination of the Caretta in Vista project, which involves various associations and bodies, including Punta Campanella - In areas such as the Sorrento peninsula and the Amalfi coast, however, there are far fewer suitable sites, so the probability of nesting decreases. Yet they exist as we have seen in recent years. For this reason we ask that beach operators, bathers, local associations, children, always sensitive to this type of activity, pay attention to the tracks on the beaches ".
“If you spot a turtle coming up onto the beach to nest, you should avoid any interaction with the animal, do not bother it with sounds, flashes and lights - explain the coordination - Contact the competent authorities immediately, starting with the Port Authority. If you spot tracks on the beach, however, try to immediately delimit the area to prevent them from being trampled and contact the authorities.”
The nesting season is about to begin and special attention must be paid to protect a species that is often the victim of human activities, both at sea and on the beaches. In June, the monitoring of “Caretta in Vista” will officially begin, which is still looking for volunteers to patrol the beaches (info: carettainvista@gmail.com).
The goal is to identify as many nests as possible, so as to protect them adequately. Last year very important numbers were recorded in Campania: 57 nests with the birth of over 3 thousand turtles.
Article published on May 12, 2022 - 13:41 pm
