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Marine Turtle Newsletter 107:17, © 2005

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

Guidelines for Sea Turtle Rescue Centres in the Mediterranean

Flegra Bentivegna
Naples AquariumVilla Comunale 1 80121 Naples, Italy (E-mail: flegra@szn.it)

The creation of rescue centres, where stranded or injured sea turtles can be treated and rehabilitated has been considered for some years as being one of the contributions to reducing their mortality rate. However, not all of today’s active rescue centres provide adequate technical facilities and specialised personnel, and their ethical criteria, scientific background and conservation motivation are sometimes obscure. In the particular case of the
Mediterranean Sea, there are some countries without specific laws that regulate the maintenance and treatments of sea turtles in such rescue centres. For this reason, the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) took the initiative to implement the Action Plan for the Conservation of Mediterranean Marine Turtles. This action plan was discussed at the last meeting of experts, held in Tunisia in 1999 (UNEP/OCA 1999). During this meeting it was agreed that there is an urgent need to formulate and declare common “guidelines” to regulate sea turtle rescue activities with respect to turtle biology and authentic conservation principles. Ideally, these guidelines will also function as a base for each nation’s domestic regulations.

Following this, a proposal was created to suggest and define guidelines, which could be adopted for the entire Mediterranean network of sea turtle rescue organisations. This document was first published as Annex VIII of the UNEP Report of the 6th Meeting of National Focal Points for Specially Protected Areas held in Marseilles, France, in June 2003 and also by RAC/SPA (2004). The objectives of the document are clearly aimed towards an improvement and regulated organisation of sea turtle rescue. It suggests that differentiation is made between rescue centres and emergency centres, the latter basically serving first aid rescue and delivery of injured turtles to the associated rescue centre. This division is supposed to form the base of an elaborated rescue network across the Mediterranean basin, structured in a hierarchal
organisation of the authorities. Thereafter, requisite guidelines detailing the necessary equipment, institutional character and rescue procedures are detailed for both centre types. The outlines do not end here but go further in describing particular problems of rescued turtles and advising on each step throughout the rehabilitation process, ranging from first diagnosis, to the treatment of particular health problems and application of various laboratory testing methods. After recommendations for the preparations preceding release the guidelines are concluded with a chapter about the role of rescue centres in public awareness and research.

With the overall aim to try to unite and supervise rescue centre activities in the Mediterranean, these guidelines are an essential and overdue effort to realize the Action Plan for the Conservation of Mediterranean Sea Turtles.

RAC/SPA 2004. Guidelines to improve the involvement of marine rescue centres for marine turtles. RAC/SPA, Tunis, pp. 48.

UNEP/OCA (1999) Resulutions of the Meeting of Expert on Priority Actions for the Implementation of the Action Plan for the Conservation of Mediterranean Marine Turtles. MED WG 152, 18-20 February 1999, Tunis, Tunisia