The weather conditions forces to remove the nest of sea turtles of Cala Millor

The General Directorate of the Environment and Forest Management, through the Service of Protection of Species, and the Consorcio for the Recuperación de la Fauna de las Islas Baleares (COFIB), have removed the sea turtle nest located at the beach of Cala Millor due to the weather conditions.

All the eggs that were incubated from the past 7th of July have been transferred to the facilities of the IRFAP-LIMIA, at the Port of Andratx, where staff of the COFIB will be in charge of its surveillance and management. These eggs were found on the 52nd day of its incubation period and within days of the newborn emergency. For this reason, at the beach of Cala Millor there was everything prepared for the birth of these sea turtles and the past 25th of August started the 24h surveillance of the nests, thanks to the team of volunteers that guarded them.

The storms and the strong winds of this Sunday have caused an episode of powerful waves at the area of Cala Millor, which made the water reach the nest of the sea turtles. In any case that the nest got flooded with water and the newborns got buried under the sand, the staff of the department of Marine Wildlife of the COFIB has decided to transfer all the eggs to an artificial incubation to secure their viability.

On Sunday at 17.30h the staff of the COFIB, with the help of volunteers, lifeguards and staff of the Town Hall of Sant Llorenç des Cardassar, proceeded with the opening of the nests. Inside they have found about 60 eggs with a correct development and on the verge of hatching, six eggs with an interrupted development and four turtles who have already hatched.

From the Ministry they have informed that at the moment to take appropriate decisions, it has been prioritized at all times the security of the volunteers and the technical staff. On the other hand, the Ministry has reminded that this second nesting has been registered at Majorca, the first one was at the beach of Can Pere Antoni. As well, in Ibiza there are currently three active sea turtle nests.

The Council of Agriculture, Fisheries, Environment and Joan Simonaet,  wanted to point out that “the citizen collaboration and responsibility in the preservation of the surrounding of the nests of these cataloged and protected species who give an added value to the marine environment and image of the beaches” of the Balearic Islands.

The sea turtles born in the nests at the Balearic Islands will be part of the program “Head Starting”, with agreement with the national strategy of the species and the collaboration of autonomic communities. This strategy consists in a program of raising an artificial environment during 10 to 12 months. Thanks to this program it increases exponentially the possibilities of survival of these animals returning to the sea.

The sea turtle ‘Caretta caretta’ is a species cataloged as vulnerable  in the Spanish Catalog of Endangered Species, that usually is reproduced in the oriental Mediterranean and it hasn’t been since XXI that they started to nest in the occidental Mediterranean, and very probable due to the increase of temperatures of the sea.

It is claimed, therefore, “the maximum collaboration of all the citizens to preserve the nests” , since it is “high season for nesting of this species and, in consequence, it is probable that other nests at the beaches of the Balearic Islands have not been detected and that there will be more registration of nesting”. For this reason, they have concluded that “it is necessary to warn immediately 112 if one detects newborns at the beach, a turtle making a nest or a trace on the sand”.