With 18 kilometers of tourist-ridden shoreline, Patara beach, in the southern city of Antalya near to the ancient city of Patara, is among the most important spawning areas of Caretta caretta turtles. Allocated to people for sunbathing and swimming by day, the beach is taken over by the Caretta carettas at night.
Some 86 eggs laid by the turtles on the beach have been enclosed with iron disks and numbered in a project to protect the eggs coordinated by Akdeniz University and the Environment Protection Directorate. Signposts have been put up to mark the nesting areas and people are forbidden to walk on the beach, swim or light fires at night.
Resource: Turkish Daily News
