Caretta Caretta
The Sea Turtels of Anamur

08:00 Min., NDR - Weltbilder, 16.9.2008

Anamur is a town and district of the province of Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey, between Alanya and the city of Mersin.

Anamur is Turkey's southernmost point, a coastal resort famous for its bananas. It has mutated from the Greek Anemurium meaning windy point.

The beaches are the most important nesting grounds for the sea turtle Caretta Caretta in Turkey.

In the Mediterranean Sea of Anamur, the Caretta Caretta or Loggerheads mate from late April to early June. The female nesting season is at its peak in June and July, but this depends on the nesting beach. The clutch may vary from 70 to 150 eggs. Each egg is roughly the size and shape of a ping-pong ball. The average interval between nesting seasons is two to three years.

Today the main threat to the adult loggerheads lies in shrimp trawls and crab fishing nets, to which many loggerheads annually fall victim. Furthermore, adults are often injured by speedboat propellers and by swallowing fishing hooks or getting caught in nets. Internationally animal protection organizations take pains to monitor and protect the turtles' nesting grounds in Turkey.

In Anamur during the nesting season workers from the protection organizations - the Turkish Anamur Çevre Doga ve Turizm Dernegi and the German Aktionsgemeinschaft Artenschutz - search the coastline to find evidence of nests. Once found a nest will be uncovered, if the nest is dangerously located the eggs will be moved to a better spot. Steel fencing will be placed at or near the surface to protect the eggs from large predators such as raccoons or even dogs. The barrier used is large enough to allow the hatchlings to emerge without difficulty.

The nests are checked daily for disturbances, several days after there is indication that the eggs have hatched the nest will be uncovered and the tally of hatched eggs, undeveloped eggs, and dead hatchlings will be recorded. If any hatchlings are found, they are either taken to be raised and released, or taken to research facilities.

The program describes the work of the protection organization in Anamur, it shows the alternative toursim in Anamur, that is organized around the Caretta Caretta and the problems of the protection.