The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development has released in the Marbella beach of Cabopino 39 specimens of loggerhead turtles belonging to the nest located in August 2020 in Fuengirola and that have remained, for more than a year, in the care of the Management Center of the Marine Environment (Cegma) of the Strait and the Aquarium of Seville. This is the second release of loggerhead turtles from the nest originating in Fuengirola, after which it took place last August with the participation of the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno.
In this latest release of specimens, which was attended by the general director of the Natural Environment, Biodiversity and Protected Spaces, Araceli Cabello, and the territorial delegate for Sustainable Development of Malaga, José Antonio Víquez, among others, selected five copies so that they carry satellite markers. Thanks to this technological equipment, the department technicians will be able to study the behavior of these loggerheads, the routes they take and their degree of survival.
In this sense, the general director of the Natural Environment has highlighted that these specimens with satellite markers “will allow us to know much more about the first years of life of this threatened species.” Cabello recalled that these sea turtles are those hatched from eggs laid in summer last year on the Boliches beach in Fuengirola, “a very special nest because it is the one located farthest west of the Mediterranean on record”.
The general director has pointed to the climate change as a determining factor in the alteration of some species. In this regard, Cabello has emphasized that the protection and conservation of Andalusia’s biodiversity “is everyone’s task” and has appealed to Andalusians about the importance of “taking care of our seas with simple and daily gestures such as shooting waste into containers to combat marine litter that causes so much damage to species such as the loggerhead turtle ”.
500 grams
So that the release of a turtle can be done with the best guarantees of survival, they are kept in captivity until they exceed a minimum weight of 500 grams. In the first release of specimens, that of August 2, all those turtles that did not exceed 500 grams and that are the ones that have been released on the day of this Friday were not released.
In addition, to decide if a turtle is suitable to be released there is a specific protocol, based on a veterinary check-up in which it is verified, on the one hand, that the animal is in an optimal state of health and, on the other, that it is able to survive on its own in freedom.
To schedule and organize the release, the time of year and the weather conditions of the chosen day are taken into account. Before being released, the sea turtles are weighed and measured, in addition to being marked with a subcutaneous microchip, for later identification in the event that one day they appear stranded on a beach.
In today’s release on Cabopino beach, the provincial coordinator of Malaga of the Andalusian Environment and Water Agency (Amaya), representatives of Emergencies 112 Andalusia, the Local Police, Firefighters and Protection have also participated, among others. Civil of Marbella, staff of the Bioparc Fuengirola animal park, of the Man and Territory Association, of the Produnas Association of Marbella, of the Aula del Mar of Malaga, members of the Seville Aquarium, of the Fundación Biodiversidad Proyecto Life Intermares, agents of the Environment Environment, technicians from Cegma del Estrecho, Fisheries Inspection, the Territorial Delegation of Malaga and a group of one hundred students from IES Las Dunas de Marbella.