A total of 109 eggs have been found, from which 18 hatchlings have been born.

The Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment has reported the discovery of a sea turtle (Caretta caretta) nest on the beach of Can Pastilla, Palma. A user reported the discovery in the early hours of the morning, and personnel from the Consortium for the Recovery of Fauna on the Balearic Islands (COFIB), which reports to the Directorate General for the Natural Environment and Forestry Management, travelled to the area to confirm the facts, detect the exact location of the nest and activate the protocol established for these cases. The Palma City Council, the Palma Aquarium Foundation, the Local Police and the Lifeguard Service also collaborated.

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Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment report the discovery of a sea turtle nest on Can Pastilla beach

In total, 109 eggs have been found, from which 18 sea turtles have hatched. Both the hatchlings and the eggs have been taken to the COFIB facilities to assess their state of health and will later be transferred to the IRFAP-LIMIA facilities in the Port of Andratx, where the COFIB’s Marine Fauna Department will be in charge of their care and monitoring. According to the manager of COFIB, Miquel Puig, everything indicates that the nest located today was laid during the second half of July. He also recalled that it is the first nest that has been recorded this season in the Balearic Islands.

The Government of the Balearic Islands is calling for the maximum cooperation of the entire population to preserve the nests. We are in the middle of the season for this species and the months of September and October are the nesting and hatching seasons. In the event of detecting new sea turtle nests and hatchlings, you should immediately call 112 and under no circumstances should you touch the animals.

It should be noted that these turtles will form part of the Head Starting programme, under the national strategy for the species and in collaboration with other autonomous communities. This strategy consists of a breeding programme in a controlled artificial environment lasting between 10 and 12 months. Thanks to this programme, the chances of survival of these animals once they are returned to the sea are exponentially increased. These sea turtles will be released back into the sea at the end of the programme period.

The Caretta caretta sea turtle is a species listed as Vulnerable in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species, It usually breeds in the eastern Mediterranean and has only begun to nest in the western Mediterranean at the beginning of the 21st century, most probably due to the increase in sea temperature.