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Following nesting data from several seasons, nesting areas in Greece have been classified as "major" or "moderate" (Margaritoulis 2000). "Major" nesting areas are those hosting on average more than 100 nests/season and over 6 nests/km/season. Five areas in Greece fulfill the requirements for "major" areas: Laganas Bay (Zakynthos island), Kyparissia Bay (western Peloponnesus), Rethymno (Crete), Lakonikos Bay (southern Peloponnesus) and the Bay of Chania (Crete island) (Margaritoulis 2000). The above locations are monitored each season by ARCHELON as part of a systematic and standardised long-term monitoring project. However, of the 44-km Kyparissia Bay, only the southernmost 9.5 km are monitored as they host 83.9% of the total nesting effort along the entire Bay (Margaritoulis & Rees 2001). Further, whenever resources permit, some "moderate" areas are also monitored. During the 2002 nesting season, besides the above five "major" areas, two "moderate" areas were also monitored: Bay of Messara (Crete) and Koroni (southern Peloponnesus) (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Sketch map of Greece, showing the approximate position of the seven nesting areas, monitored during 2002. Map produced with: SEATURTLE.ORG Maptool

During 2002, a total of 9991 emergences, of which 2496 (25.0%) resulted in nests, were recorded in the above seven nesting areas, totaling in length 73.2 km (tab. 1). The five "major" areas hosted in total 9575 emergences, of which 2380 (24.9%) resulted in nests. The number of nests per area, during 2002, was within the range of values recorded during previous seasons (Table 2) and nesting density varied correspondingly (from 7.5 nests/km in the Bay of Messara to 213.6 nests/km in Laganas Bay) thus each nesting area maintained its ranking according to Margaritoulis (2000).

Nesting success varied from area to area; the lowest nesting success was recorded in Lakonikos Bay (21.1%) and the highest in southern Kyparissia Bay (33.2%) (Table 1). Inter-area variation in nesting success is generally caused by diversity of nesting habitat. Highest success is generally recorded on extensive beaches with ample sand and lower success for more narrow or pebbly beaches. Anthropogenic disturbances can further reduce the nesting success on all beach types.

Table 1. Main nesting data for seven areas monitored during 2002 in Greece.

Table 2. Maximum and minimum annual numbers of nests recorded per monitored area in Greece during previous seasons.

Loggerhead nesting in Greece is highly seasonal. The nesting season usually extends from end of May to late August (Margaritoulis & Rees 2001). For 2002, the duration of the nesting season (from first to last nest) ranged from 70 days in Rethymno to 94 days in southern Kyparissia Bay (Table 3).

Table 3. Start/end dates and duration of nesting season per monitored area in Greece during 2002

Conservational aspects

All five "major" nesting areas in Greece plus the Bay of Messara are included in the proposed network of protected areas entitled NATURA 2000, as part of the Habitats Directive of the European Union. Further, the nesting beaches in Laganas Bay and surrounding marine and terrestrial areas were declared a National Marine Park in 1999 (Dimopoulos 2001). The nesting areas of southern Kyparissia Bay, Rethymno, Lakonikos Bay and Bay of Chania feature specific Management Plans, which are implemented by ARCHELON in cooperation with local authorities and stakeholders (Irvine et al. 2000, Margaritoulis & Rees 2001).

In all seven areas there is a strong public awareness component operated through seasonal information stations, slide presentations mainly given at tourist installations, on-site instructions provided to visitors and participation in various local cultural events. It is estimated that over 165,000 visitors were provided turtle information during 2002 in the seven nesting areas. Further, in the course of projects co-funded by the European Commission, two permanent Environmental Centres have recently been created in strategic locations in Lakonikos Bay and in southern Kyparissia Bay (Margaritoulis & Rees 2001; Rees et al. 2002). These Centres, established in collaboration with local communities, feature residential facilities for researchers and exhibitions for visitors; they also offer guided tours to nearby ecosystems (e.g. coastal forest, dunes). The Centres operate throughout the year and are mostly visited by Greek schoolchildren.

Acknowledgements: Permits were provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environment. We thank ARCHELON's personnel for organizing and supporting the project. Many thanks go to project coordinators Andreas Koutsodendris (Peloponnesus), Aliki Panagopoulou (Crete) and Harris Strantzalos (Zakynthos). The project would not have succeeded without the dedicated work of several hundred volunteers from many countries. Special thanks to field leaders and assistants Andrew Bishop, Phil Bradshaw, Filipa Braganca, Owen Brown, Christina Davy, Marina Dias, Lana Emo, Maria Georgomitrou, Alexander Kazantzis, Sandra Mueller, Susana Pereira, Lawrence Roberts, Freya St John, Michael Sturt, Lu Young and Judith Zbinden. Finally, we would like to thank three anonymous reviewers who provided comments on a previous version of this manuscript.

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