A Caretta caretta sea turtle has nested in the heart of Palma, on the urban beach of Can Pere Antoni, 500 meters from the cathedral, in the first recorded setting in Mallorca. The turtle was sighted by a person on Wednesday night and notified the environmental authorities to try to protect the eggs.
The nest contains 106 eggs and 26 of them have been transferred to the Marine Research and Aquaculture Laboratory (LIMIA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food where they will be treated with artificial incubation, thus increasing hatching guarantees. The remaining 80 will remain, for the moment, in the nest, which has been surrounded by the Environmental Agents, until the technicians certify the viability of their remaining there during the incubation period, between 45 and 60 days, according to reports. the Balearic Government.
The Minister of the Environment of the Balearic Islands, Miquel Mir, has visited the area given the exceptionality of this finding, since until now no spawning had been detected in Mallorca. If there had been another three in Menorca and two in Eivissa. Mir has pointed out that it is good news to have found the nest, but he has also stressed the singularity of the fact that a turtle has nested on an urban beach as crowded as the one in Palma.
The minister has insisted on the need that, in the event that a turtle is seen on a beach, "nobody touches it or comes closer than fifteen meters". From the Ministry they ask that flash photographs not be taken and that 112 be called immediately so that the action protocol can be put into operation. In addition, maximum caution and prudence are requested when publicizing this type of event through social networks to guarantee that protection tasks are carried out under the least possible pressure.
Miquel Mir has added that the Caretta caretta is a species classified as vulnerable, for which reason he has requested the collaboration of all citizens to preserve the nest. In addition, he recalled that it is a species that usually reproduces in the eastern Mediterranean and that it was not until the beginning of the 21st century that it began to nest in the western Mediterranean, most likely due to the increase in sea temperature. .
"It is, therefore, a new environmental challenge that comes to us due to the climate emergency that we are suffering," he added. Those responsible for the Ministry have explained that we are just at the beginning of the breeding season for this species and, therefore, it is likely that more nesting attempts will be recorded.
