Long-term Nest Protection Increases Population of Sea Turtles
Can multidecadal protection of sea turtle nests increase their nesting population? This topic is discussed in this article, featuring the case of Kyparissia Bay, Greece, a loggerhead turtle nesting area in the Mediterranean. High rates of nest predation, mainly by foxes, prompted ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece, to initiate in 1992 a massive protection of nests. After 17 years of unfailing fencing of nests, the nesting population of loggerheads started to increase dramatically and today Kyparissia Bay hosts the largest nesting aggregation of loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean. The authors discuss possible causes of such an increase comparing the nesting trends in Kyparissia Bay with those at the nearby Zakynthos, once the largest nesting concentration in the Mediterranean, and reach the conclusion that the increase of nests in Kyparissia Bay is largely attributable to the increased hatchling recruitment, resulting from this large-scale nest protection program.
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