that this winter we had a lot of shift changes of the weather and the water
temperature. They happened really suddenly, and after those short periods
of dropping temperatures, we noticed a lot of turtles coming in sick, suffering
from hypothermia or lung infections. Especially this winter, for as long as I
have been here, we had a sort of phenomenon of sudden changes in the
weather and correlated it with the number of sick turtles arriving and being
admitted at the center. Also, there is a worry regarding the nests, because
higher temperatures can severely affect the sex of the hatchlings.
Also, because Greece is very popular among tourists, what could they
do to minimize their impact on the turtles?
So many things... Definitely the plastic pollution- it is in our hands, we are the
ones that should do something about this, I know it sounds really basic, but
we can actually see a lot of pollution going on in the beaches, it is a very sad
thing. We have turtles being entangled in plastic or ingesting plastic. It really
has to stop. There is a lot of work going on as well, what ARCHELON does -
collaboration with hotel owners so as to protect the nesting beaches as much
as possible. Definitely we have a lot of areas we want to protect, so we have
to collaborate with tourists and hotel owners and try to be quiet, when a
turtle comes out to lay their eggs, to give them space and keep a distance.
We are trying to do something about the light pollution. I think these are the
most important things we have to remember.
Thank you. I have one more question- is there anything you would like
to add that I didn’t ask about?
I just want to highlight the fact that all the work ARCHELON does, both at the
Rescue Center and at the nesting beach projects, cannot actually happen if
we don not have all those amazing volunteers coming here to help us. Our
work depends heavily on people who are coming here, without getting any
sort of money, to help the sea turtles, so they are amazing. I think there is a
great reward for those coming here, they get to know an amazing species,
they learn to work, treat them, take care of them. As far as I know from the
feedback I am getting, it is a pretty amazing opportunity for the volunteers.
We are really, really happy we have all those hundreds of people every single
year who want to help us and the turtles.