Rome, 15 June 2022 – Turtles marine, tomorrow is there world day dedicated to them. Legambiente relaunch its campaign Tartawatcherswith hundreds of volunteers throughout Italy committed to protecting the nests of Caretta Caretta.
On the beaches of Italy in defense of nests
The goal of the Tartawatchers is to follow the traces left on the beaches by the mother turtle and then identify the egg laying sites to be secured and protected from incursions of wild animals oppure dai unintentional damage of bathers, tourists and insiders engaged in cleaning the beaches.
Video control systems
A costly commitment, supported also by systems of video-controlbut which is matched by the great emotion of the hatching of the eggs that will lead the turtles to see the light and set out into the sea Mediterranean starting from the Italian beaches.
Who are the Tartawatchers
The Tartawatchers of Legambiente are women and men, girls and boys who carve out a space in their day as employees or workers or students to make their contribution to the preservation of a species at risk of extinction like the Caretta caretta turtle. Yes, because the threats to these splendid specimens are also on land, as well as at sea where they are forced to extricate themselves from plastic pollution, fishing equipment and maritime traffic. To ensure that the hatching of eggs goes the right way, it is necessary to reduce noise and light pollution at night and avoid mechanical cleaning of the beaches. For this reason, the commitment of the volunteers also includes awareness and information for bathers and beach managers.
Sos turtles
Also this year Legambiente has activated the service SOS Turtles, a single number to collect reports of traces or baby turtles on the Italian coasts. An invitation to citizens, tourists and bathers to get mobilized in a simple way, by sending a WhatsApp message or an SMS to 349 2100989.
“The teams have already been formed and active since the beginning of June – declares Stefano Di Marco, Coordinator of the Legambiente Projects Office and head of the Tartawatchers program – but there is still space for those who want to join the Tartawatchers teams and make a concrete contribution. to safeguarding biodiversity. To participate, just write to the address [email protected]”.
The numbers
Last summer they were spotted well 256 nests while in the summer of 2020 the count stopped at 250. The Italian regions most popular with mother tortoises are Campania, Calabria and Sicily but do not disdain Puglia, Sardinia, Lazio and Tuscany and even The region Veneto where last year the northernmost nest in the Mediterranean (Jesolo) was registered.