| Sea Turtle (Caretta
caretta)
a joint
effort of scientists, fishermen and an oil company in
the protection of an endangered species
Key words:
biodiversity
public
participation
public – private partnership
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Problem:
The sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is one
of the most known as well as one of the most threatened
species of Mediterranean. Contrary to the common belief,
it is rather frequent guest of the Slovenian sea. The
sea turtles nest on the coasts of Greece, Cyprus and
Turkey. Northern Adriatic is for them one of the two
most important feeding areas in the Mediterranean. They
appear in the Slovenian sea mostly in the warm part
of a year, between April and November. Shallow Slovenian
sea is a suitable feeding area for young turtles –
in their first life stage they feed on floating organisms,
later they feed exclusively on organisms from the sea
bottom. Shallowness of Slovenian sea enables an easy
change of feeding habits even to very young turtles,
therefore the Slovenian sea is of crucial importance
for their survival.
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Project Description:
Project “Saving a sea turtle in the Slovenian sea”
has an informative and awareness rising character. Still,
collecting and supplememnting data also helps to prepare
and execute a national action plan for conservation of
sea turtles as it is directed in the Action Plan for the
Conservation of Mediterranean marine Turtles, which was
adopted by the signers of the Barcelona convention in
the year 1989.
Under the title “Sea turtle seeks friends”
an informative leaflet and a poster were prepared. The
main goal is to raise public knowledge and awareness
- especially of the Slovenian fishermen and other sea
users – about the importance of the sea turtle
for preservation of biodiversity of the Slovenian sea.
The fishermen’s cooperation within the project
is of crucial importance, because they are the ones
who frequently meet with sea turtles, ussually when
the turtles get caught in their nets by accident. In
the past, the fishermen were not motivated to report
on the captured sea turtles. Nowadays, the oil company
Petrol guarantees them a symbolic award (a coupon for
50 litres of oil and a T-shirt with the project’s
logo) for every given report.
With the help of data provided by fishermen, it will
be possible to define more precisely the sea turtle’s
status in the Slovenian sea, the importance of the northern
Adriatic for its preservation, and it will also ensure
that our sons and grandsons will encounter sea turtles
in the Slovenian sea as well. Along with legislative
protection, the first condition for successful preservation
of the sea turtle is good knowledge of their life habits
and nesting areas, their reproduction and feeding characteristics,
their migration routes, and their areas of wintering.
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Photo: Arhiv Morske
biološke postaje Piran |
Results, Who, Where,
When
Project received public affection and even the number
of found or captured sea turtles is higher then in previous
years (28 turtles in 2003 and 17 in 2004). This is a clear
proof that the project is successful and that the main
goal - to raise public awareness - is achieved. Unfortunately,
most of the turtles found or captured were not alive any
more. At the same time, the project is a sample of
a good partnership between public sector (Ministry of
the Environment and Spatial Planning) and buiseness
(oil company Petrol) that started on the 22nd of March
2003 with an agreement on partnership cooperation in
the sustainable use of waters in Slovenia. Partnership
gives benefits to both partners involved – to
the stockholder’s company as well as to the public
respectively to the local community. Project is carried
out by the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for
Nature Conservation, Regional Office Piran, and it is
coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial
Planning and oil company Petrol.
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Photo: Donja Rashed
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Further information
www.gov.si/mop
www.msp.nib.si
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COMMENTS AND THEORY
Good partnership must be based on enabling benefits for
all partners involved. In this case everybody benefits:
public sector, company, fishermen, common public and nature.
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| QUESTION
What are different opportunities
for partnership between public and business sector
in order to preserve the nature?
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Prepared by:
IIDE – Institute for Integral Development and Environment
(Marta Vahtar, Maja Zdesar and Miran Rusjan) |
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