Volunteer to Protect Greece’s Sea Turtles
As a country surrounded by water, Greece is a likely habitat for sea turtles. These remarkable creatures are found in Crete, the Peloponnese and Zakynthos. Archelon is a national organization whose mission is to protect Greece’s sea turtles, heal injured turtles and raise public awareness about their endangered status.
Since 1983, Archelon, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece, has been “ground zero” for protecting the sea turtles of Greece. They daily monitor over 75 kilometers of sea and water regions where 2,500 nests are prey to human threats and non-human predators. The group relies on over 500 volunteers from around the world to help carry out their work at three permanent and ten seasonal stations in Crete, Peloponnese and Zakynthos.
Volunteers also work at Archelon’s Rescue Center based in Glyfada along the sea coast 18 kilometers southeast of the center of Athens. Every year over 50 turtles are brought to the Rescue Center for rehabilitation. Common injuries include amputations from entanglement in fishing nets, ingestion of fishing hooks, collision with speedboats and even deliberate head injuries by fishermen. Archelon trains volunteers in techniques to treat the turtles. Additionally a Volunteers Training Centre in Glyfada offers seminars and presentation to the public.
Archelon’s diverse programs reach an estimated 200,000 tourists a year, many who come to see the famous Caretta caretta species found only in Greece. Over 15,000 students participate every year in the Training Centre’s educational programs, and learn useful facts, such as three of the world’s seven sea turtle species reside in Greece.
There are many threats to the sea turtles that qualify them as an endangered species. Natural forces include climate changes or animals eating the turtle eggs from the nest. Tourists pose another very real threat to the sea turtles because their sun beds and umbrellas are set up on the very beaches where the turtles nest and the night lights at beach hotels interfere with the nesting, too. Also, sea pollution is a huge problem because the turtles eat plastic bags thinking they are jellyfish, and this consumption is fatal.
Thus, the work of Archelon, a non-profit foundation, and its legion of volunteers is vital to combat the human and natural threats faced by these enduring creatures whose lineage goes back to the era of the dinosaurs.
If you are visiting Athens and unable to travel to westward to the Peloponnese peninsula and Zakynthos island or south to the island of Crete, you can have the opportunity to engage with the beautiful Greek sea turtles by visiting the the Volunteers Training Centre in Glyfada. Once you are informed about their plight as an endangered species, you may be inclined to adopt a sea turtle as a means to help the Centre. Of course, in this adoption you do not take the turtle home with you. Rather, you choose a certain age sea turtle and give him or her a name, then the Archelon people will inform you the date “your turtle” left its nest and reached the sea.
The aim of the adoption program, the volunteer program and all of Archelon’s efforts is to support the protection of these endangered reptiles that lay their nests every year on our beaches. Just imagine how much joy you will get by helping a Caretta Caretta survive.
For more information about Archelon contact their main office in Athens at 210-523-1342 or email info@archelon.gr
Click to open in Google Maps (opens in new window)
