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Meeting of LIFE-Nature projects on marine turtles (Day 1) (Chair: A. Panagopoulou; Facilitator: P. Casale).

The meeting was focused on the contribution of LIFE-Nature Projects (co-funded by the European Commission) in sea turtle conservation in the Mediterranean, in particular projects on fisheries interaction with sea turtles. Representatives from different projects were R. Sagarminaga (Spanish Cetacean Society), C. Carreras (Dopana Biological Station –Valencia), C. Giacoma (University of Torino), S. Nannarelli (CTS) and A. Koutsodendris (ARCHELON), who presented methods to mitigate the consequences of sea turtle’s accidental capture in fisheries (e.g. use of circle hooks), as well as its strengths and weaknesses. The main conclusions of the meeting were: the project results should be made available to DG Fisheries as well as DG Environment for the implementation of relevant policies; fishermen and their needs should be taken into account while designing policies and mitigation measures.

Panel discussion “The involvement of local communities in the management of nesting beaches in the Mediterranean” (Day 1) (Chair: M. Nada).

The discussion aimed at exploring what are the enabling and disabling factors affecting the active involvement of local communities in conservation initiatives. During the meeting, three case studies were presented from Crete, Greece (by A. Petrandonaki), Cephalonia, Greece (by K. Xenopoulou) and Çirali, Turkey (by B. Kutle). The main lesson learned were: community involvement at the different stages of conservation initiatives, along with key government and informal leaders, is a key element in achieving sustainable outcomes; understanding the needs and priorities of each target group is essential for tailoring conservation approaches and entry points; and promoting rights of local communities and other stakeholder should be accompanied with identification of their responsibilities and roles in conservation. The participants concluded that while conservation initiatives are currently acknowledging the importance of community role in conservation, this issue is not thoroughly studied and more emphasis should focus on exploring best practices and documenting lesson learned.

The Mediterranean Rescue Centre Network (Day 1) (Chair: A. Panagopoulou)

As a follow-up of an important conclusion of the Workshop on the Rehabilitation of Injured Sea Turtles in the Mediterranean (Glyfada, Athens 20-22/11/2004 – MTN 108:26), this meeting had as its main objective to move forward with the idea of creating a Network of Rescue Centres in the Mediterranean. During the meeting, everyone agreed that it is important to have communication flow and exchange of experiences and know-how among sea turtle rehabilitation facilities across the region. It was also agreed that although there are tools available such as MedTurtle and the existing communication amongst Rescue Centres it would be useful to create a special webpage hosted by an independent site such as seaturtle.org. A co-ordinating team for its realization was established, comprising of D. Freggi (WWF Italy’s Lampedusa Rescue Centre), Y. Levi (Israeli Rescue Centre) and A. P Panagopoulou (ARCHELON).

The current status of sea turtle conservation in the Mediterranean: a country-by-country overview (Day 2) (Chair: P. Casale).

As proposed at the Fourth reunion (MTN 108:22), a special session was dedicated this year to present to the audience an updated situation about turtle conservation and related initiatives in the most important countries for sea turtle conservation. The following persons (mostly MTSG members) gave thoughtful presentations on 16 countries/areas: I. Haxhiu (Albania), B. Lazar (Croatia and Slovenia), W. Fuller (Cyprus, north coast), A. Demetropoulos (Cyprus, south coast), M. Nada (Egypt), A. Panagopoulou (Greece), Y. Levi (Israel), P. Casale & F. Bentivegna (Italy), M. Aureggi (Lebanon), A. Hamza (Libya), M. Aksissou (Morocco), J. Tomas & C. Carreras (Spain), A. Rees (Syria), M. Bradai (Tunisia), F. Demirayak & O. Turkozan (Turkey).

Panel discussion “The National Marine Park of Zakynthos, Greece” (Day 2) (Chair: D. Dimopoulos)

The panel comprised T. Arapis (ARCHELON), C. Chryssomalis (Ministry of Environment), D. Karavellas (WWF Greece), K. Katselidis (National Marine Park of Zakynthos) and L. Venizelos (Medasset). Their presentations drew a stark picture of the current status of the NMPZ and the nesting beaches. The lack of political will and the non existence of a national strategy for protected areas in Greece led the Management Agency of the NMPZ to stop its work three years after its establishment. For the next two years it did not operate and only recently has it resumed operation, however with an ambiguous future. The status of the nesting beaches is deteriorating especially that of Daphni which has experienced some severe alterations and the 13 illegal buildings remain in operation flouting existing legislation and all court decisions for their demolition. In the end the body unanimously endorsed a resolution to minimize disturbances of nesting loggerhead turtles by tourist activities on Zakynthos, prepared by ARCHELON and WWF Greece and then submitted to and accepted by the plenary of the ISTS (MTN 113:11-13).

In addition to the above sessions, three presentations (P) were given and two videos (V) projected during the two days:

(P) “Regional Red Listing of Sea Turtles: A Mediterranean perspective” (by J. Seminoff).

(P) “The WWF’s Marine Turtle Action Plan for the Mediterranean” (by P. Casale)

(P) “The nature of Crete” (by P. Lymberakis, Natural History Museum of Crete)

(V) Conservation project at Çirali, Turkey

(V) Surgery techniques at the Univ. of Bari, Italy