This weekend two new face turtle (Caretta caretta) nests have been located on the Catalan coast, one of them in Malgrat de Mar (Maresme). With these there are now four nests of this endangered species found on the Catalan coast this season.
The nest has 130 eggs, one of them broken. Following the action protocol in these cases, a total of 40 eggs have been transferred to the facilities of the Foundation for the Conservation and Recovery of Marine Animals (CRAM) and the Center for the Recovery of Amphibians and Reptiles of Catalonia (CRARC) for artificial incubation to ensure its viability in case of any contingency that could occur on the beach. The notice was given by an individual through 112 this Monday.
The breeding season for the skin turtle starts at the beginning of June and lasts until the end of October. Mothers usually nest between mid-June and late July, and young begin to emerge from early August to mid-to-late October. The nesting of skinned turtles in the western Mediterranean began about 10-15 years ago, indicating a change in behavior probably motivated by climate change. Historically there had been the presence of feeding juveniles and subadults, but until then no females had come to reproduce.
To guarantee the viability of the breeding of this species, the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda coordinates the operations to protect these nests, in which the BETA Center of the UVic-UCC, the CRAM, the Cuerpo de Rural Agent, the Nature Conservation Network, the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona, Forestal Catalana and the Barcelona Zoo. This year, improvements have been made to the protocol that is followed when a nest is located to make it more efficient and improve decision-making (for example, if it is necessary to move the nest or save some eggs to incubate them in captivity ). Improvements have also been introduced in other aspects related to the taking of scientific and veterinary samples or the marking of specimens, among others. Last year no nests were found on the Catalan coast, while in 2021 five were found.
