SEA LIFE’s SOS programme is focusing on turtle conservation in 2006, with a campaign that includes an ambitious appeal to raise 500,000 Euros to build a Turtle Rescue centre on the Greek island of Zakynthos.

The popular holiday island to the west of the Greek mainland hosts 80-per-cent of the nests of Mediterranean loggerhead turtles. Since the early 1980s when the Greek island holiday boom began, the Zakynthos turtles have been under growing pressure.

Night time beach activity has prevented adult females from coming ashore to nest. Others have found their way barred by pedalos and beach furniture. Hatching turtles have been drawn away from the sea by the lights of beachfront bars and hotels, to die on the road or from dehydration. Beach umbrellas have speared eggs. Adults congregating around the island to mate have been killed or injured by pleasure boats.

Any adult turtles found injured face a long journey to the only existing rescue centre, which is in Athens. That is why SOS is raising funds to help Zakynthos-based conservation group Earth, Sea & Sky develop a rescue centre on the island…at its southern peninsula Gerakas. Donations can be made at any SEA LIFE or Sanctuary attraction…and there is a special fundraising ‘Turtle-athon’ planned on Tuesday, 1st of August 2006, when SOS supporters across Europe will be encouraged to stage sponsored events, sales and other fundraisers to help reach the appeal target. Almost simultaneous with the SOS launch, Weymouth SEA LIFE Park is opening the first purpose built Turtle Sanctuary in the UK. This impressive new facility will provide a care and rehabilitation service for any turtles stranding around the UK coast, and will also be a refuge for unwanted freshwater turtles. Many freshwater turtles are purchased as pets when tiny, but grow so large and develop such a voracious appetite that many end up being set free in our own rivers and streams.

Being primarily North American species, they pose a serious threat to native wildlife…and this threat may increase if global warming raises temperatures to the point where they are able to breed. The SOS Campaign is also raising a petition this year to try and reduce the dreadful death-toll inflicted upon sea turtles by the ‘long line’ fishing industry. An estimated 200,000 loggerhead turtles and 50,000 leatherbacks are killed by long line fishing, either drowning or suffering internal damage from swallowing the fish hooks. Trials have shown that a new kind of hook called a ‘circle hook’ can reduce this figure by 90-per-cent, so SOS is petitioning to get the circle hook employed as swiftly as possible by all the world’s long line fisheries. You can learn more about these projects when you next visit a SEA LIFE Centre…but even if you are not visiting soon, why not plan a fund-raising event for the 1st of August 2006 ‘Turtle-athon.’ To find out more about Earth, Sea & Sky you can visit their own website www.earthseasky.org

Hunstanton SEA LIFE Sanctuary / hunstanton@sealsanctuary.co.uk