Turtle Dives... Over the last few weeks we have been bombarded with queries about the situation in Laganas Bay, Zakynthos. As we have a number of other issues to share with you we have decided to put them all together in one easy-to-access e-newsletter. Sifis, our very capable Webmaster, is responsible for the design and layout Turtle Dives, and Stella, our new International Communications Officer, who joined us in October, acts as compiler and editor.

We hope you enjoy Turtle Dives and would love to hear your thoughts on it. Send us your comments or suggestions about what you'd like to read about in our next edition to: medasset@medasset.org

Lily Venizelos
President

Update: Zakynthos National Marine Park (ZNMP)
A Glimmer of Hope? You may remember that during the 2005 nesting season chaos prevailed in the sea and on the beaches of Laganas Bay, and nesting was severely hampered. Action was taken (August 20th) after the high tourist season had ended and nesting was over, by which time it was too late for last year's nesting turtles. read more...

THE MEDASSET ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION KIT
NOW AVAILABLE IN ARABIC Following the great success of the Greek and English versions of our Environmental Education Kit "The Mediterranean Sea, a Source of Life" in 2003, it has now been adapted, translated and reproduced in Arabic and is ready for free dissemination to schools in countries around the Mediterranean. read more...

New Publications 'A REVIEW AND REAPPRAISAL OF RESEARCH IN SOME PREVIOUSLY UNSURVEYED MEDITERRANEAN MARINE TURTLE NESTING SITES, 1990-2001' by Venizelos, L., K. Papapavlou, M.-A. Dunais & C. Lagonika, has been published in the Belgian Journal of Zoology as part of the Proceedings of the 19th International Congress on the Zoogeography and Ecology of Greece and Adjacent Regions. read more...

The 26th Annual Sea Turtle Symposium comes to Crete (Greece) For the first time in its 26-year history the Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation and Biology will be held in Europe, and more specifically in Crete from 2nd-8th April 2006. read more...

Hits! Hits! Hits! at EuroTurtle.org! We welcome 2006 with news that EUROTURTLE, Europe's first educational website for the conservation and biology of sea turtles, is going swimmingly, with an impressive 2,824,862 hits, an increase of 18% from 2004's figures (2,299,000) and 187,245 visits over the course of the year - an increase of 24%! That's an average of 513 visitors per day! read more...

Fundraising News The cutting of our traditional Greek New Year cake ('Pita'), took place on Wednesday 1st February. read more...

MEDASSET's Limited Edition Turtle Good Luck Charm Not only a charm for good luck and long life, but also a salve to know that all proceeds will go towards research and conservation work for the endangered sea turtles of the Mediterranean! read more...