Greece Caught Between Welfare of Turtles and Tourists

By Nick Parkins

ZAKYNTHOS, Greece, November 5, 2003 (ENS) - The primary Mediterranean nesting rookeries for the endangered loggerhead turtle are found on the Greek island of Zakynthos, but a rising tide of tourists threatens to overwhelm these nesting sites. Just 45 minutes by plane from Athens, the island's pristine beaches and clear, cool waters attract visitors from around the world. But residential and commercial developments are leading to the destruction of nests and alteration of the turtles' behavioral cycles.

Laganas beach, the longest in Greece, one of the most popular vacation spots on the island, is also a nesting site of the rare turtles. Tourists enjoy water sports and shops by day, taverns and restaurants at night, but these developments threaten the nesting loggerheads.

The National Marine Park of Zakynthos was established by Presidential Decree on December 1, 1999 to protect this and other areas considered representative of the Mediterranean and island ecosystems, and to deal with conservation threats posed by global tourism.

Laganas Bay is lined with tourists lounging under sun umbrellas. (Photos courtesy Island of Zakynthos)

In Laganas Bay, which takes in a third of the park's total area, loggerhead conservation is suffering from shortages of funds and workers. The sight of six people patrolling the area from a single small boat has raised concern among European Union partners and local residents, who see it as their job to police and patrol the area.

In the official statement from its mission to Zakynthos during September 2002, the European Commission noted that lack of government funding has resulted in a breach of policy guidelines.

In January 2002, Greece was reprimanded by the European Court of Justice for deficiencies in the legal framework concerning the National Marine Park, the country's first under the new Natura 2000 system of EU protected areas. Among other problems, "The authorities and the budget of the Management Agency are not sufficient," the court said, and compensation for landowners who refrain from developing for reasons of conservation has not been adopted.

The Zakynthos Port Authorities have only one boat to put on Laganas Bay, but the commission's representative, Jean-Francois Verstryge of the Environment Division, said two boats are necessary, staffed by 12 rather than the current six people. A station in Laganas where they can operate from, is also necessary for turtle survival, Verstryge said.

Despite the opinion of the mission that the population of loggerheads has stabilized since the National Marine Park was established, the situation is still difficult for the turtles, according to local residents.

Loggerhead turtle swims towards Laganas Bay (Photo courtesy Island of Zakynthos)

But Verstryge said the commission is concerned about other Zakynthos beaches where a lack of funding has limited policing and public education on issues affecting loggerhead conservation.

On the neighboring beaches of Kalamaki and Dafni, residential and commercial developments are causing problems for the present and future survival of loggerhead populations.

Tavernas are operating in an illegal fashion, and sun beds and umbrellas often exceed the numbers legally allocated.

The developments and tourist pleasures threaten the loggerheads, because they are only capable of building their nest sites in the soft, undisturbed sands that adorn Zakynthos' southern beaches.

Where these sands have been trodden, the underlying nesting sites are destroyed, and the loggerheads are less likely to return to the beaches on which they were born.

Surviving hatchlings emerge from their nests and head to the sea between the months of July and October, during the height of the tourist season. Lights from properties lining the beaches cause disorientation of the hatchlings, resulting in their untimely death.

Tourist activity on the beach at Gerakas is limited for loggerhead protection.

Public education is essential to ensure the loggerheads' survival, but even with the best of intentions educational efforts can go awry, resulting in more harm than good.

Conservationists thought to save loggerhead hatchlings from the unwanted advances of ghost crabs, which line up for a feeding gauntlet as the juvenile turtles head from nest to sea.

Workers relocated hatchlings to the tidal wash so they could avoid the predatory crabs. But it is now known that this race to the tidal wash is essential to the developing biology of the turtles' lungs. Without it they would drown.

The European Commission has made missteps too. In its attempt to strike a balance between the commercial interests of the tourist industry - the lifeblood of the Zakynthos economy - and turtle conservation, the commission suggested the deployment of glass bottomed boats.

But in their struggle to navigate safely from nest to open sea, loggerheads expend a great deal of energy and once waterborne, they must surface regularly. Boats that force the turtles underneath the glass bottoms for the benefit of the earnest tourists, drown many of the struggling juvenile turtles.

Verstryge said the situation has "clearly improved and we are very satisfied about this, if we are to compare the situation today with the situation two to three years ago." But there is still some distance to go, he said, and if the issues threatening loggerhead conservation cannot be resolved, the commission will consider "continuing the procedure before the court of justice to prosecute Greece."