4th edition of Turtle Dives...A bi-annual e-newsletter by MEDASSET
We are reaching a tipping point in our global environment, where change must happen before the resilience and endurance of the world's ecosystems are spent. In 2008, MEDASSET enters its 20th year protecting the marine environment in the Mediterranean; now we must start projecting ourselves into the next 20 years. Where will we be then? Will we have continued to degrade the very fabric of life on this Planet- our climate system? Shall we have made the change in time?

We warmly welcome Stephanos Kouris as MEDASSET's Project Manager and Jenny Ioannou as Communications Responsible and look forward to working with them this year embarking on a range of projects from scientific research in the Mediterranean to our new environmental education programme with our fabulous and fun new Sea Turtle Mascot: 'Niretta the Caretta'!
Lily Venizelos
President
IN THIS ISSUE:

ZAKYNTHOS NATIONAL MARINE PARK (ZNMP), Greece
Axes to Grind click here...

Turtles in Turkey click here...

Celebrating 20 Years of MEDASSET
With Founder Lily Venizelos click here...

Converting Chromium, Kazanli Turkey
Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife (Bern Convention)
click here...

Turtles in Trouble
Launched in Greece, click here...

EuroTurtle gets a ''Facelift''...
click here...

''Open your eyes''
Raising Public Awareness at Philoxenia, World Animal Day and 'Greece is our home' click here...

Enter ''Niretta the Caretta''
Launch of our exciting environmental education programme click here...

Life Amphibious: Bio-Sub Voyage
Underwater expedition with Lloyd and Carolina click here...

Activities and Events
'New Year Pita Cake' click here...

Conservation News

  • Global warming and sea turtles
  • RAC/SPA's 8th Focal Point Meeting
  • 2nd Turkish Sea Turtle Symposium
  • 3rd Med. Sea Turtle Conference

     

MEDASSET/GR
1C Licavitou St., 106 72, Athens, Greece
Tel.: + 30 210 3613572, 3640389
Fax: +30 210 3613572
E-mail: medasset@medasset.gr
www.medasset.gr
Founded in 1988, MEDASSET is an international NGO registered as a charity in the UK and a Non Profit Organisation in Greece working for the study and conservation of sea turtles and their habitats throughout the Mediterranean, through scientific research, environmental education, political lobbying and raising public awareness. The organisation is a Partner to the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) of UNEP and has been a Permanent Observer-member of the Bern Convention at the Council of Europe since 1988.

If you do not wish to receive further Turtle Dives, please send an email to: medasset@medasset.org and include the word 'unsubscribe' in the title.

'Turtle Dives' Editor: Prue Robinson
Hope you enjoy our 4th edition and we would love to hear your feedback. Send us your comments or suggestions about what you'd like to read about in our next edition to: medasset@medasset.org.


MEDASSET/UK
c/o 24 Park Towers, 2 Brick St.,
London W1J 7DD, UK.
Tel./Fax: (020) 76290654
E-mail: medasset@medasset.org
www.medasset.org

Zakynthos: Axes to grind
GREECE: ZAKYNTHOS NATIONAL MARINE PARK

Despite lack of long-term evidence of a system of strict protection for the loggerhead nesting beaches in Laganas Bay and continued complaints by the NGOs on the level of illegality and mismanagement; the EC closed the 2002 European Court of Justice Case on June 17th 2007. Since this closure the National Marine Park of Zakynthos has witnessed further illegal development with two new car-parks and closed unaccountable management.

Without a conductive policy environment or societal perception favouring conservation, the loggerhead sea turtle nesting area of Laganas Bay again falls to mismanagement in the interest of pro-development illegal building owners. The Park Management is failing to adhere to even a basic level of adherence to EC and National legislation and has used unorthodox and intimidating behaviour in relation to local inhabitants, local Government and involved NGOs.

This once pristine nesting beach of Daphne, now a 'small village' has had annual compromises to its ecological integrity to appease illegal building owners. Until transparent

FIND OUT MORE
MEDASSET's 2007 Report to the EC and Bern Convention:
Click here



Photo: © 2007 MEDASSET 		Photo taken subsequent to the Tourist Turtle Watch Boat Captain jumping into the sea and wrestling a sea turtle that was resting metres below the surface, to show tourists.
New 100-car parking area for Daphne, built in June 2007
in the ''Protected Landscapes'' area of the
National Marine Park of Zakynthos.
Photo: © 2007 MEDASSET
Turtles in Turkey

2nd National Sea Turtle Symposium Dalyan, Turkey 25-27 October 2007

Lily Venizelos attended the 2nd National Sea Turtle Symposium in Dalyan and presented a paper ''Field Conservation Assessments in Turkey 1989-2007: A Retrospective''; poster presentation ''Dalyan Nesting Beach: Looking Back to Move Forward'' and two films The first was entitled ''Can Tourists and Turtles Mix?'' by Richard Brock (former BBC producer and Living Planet Productions) on tourism impact on sea turtles in Zakynthos and the Travel Foundation's ''Turtles in Trouble''.

 

Celebrating 20 Years of MEDASSET
With Founder and President Lily Venizelos


Q. How would you describe your 20 years of experience?
A. At times frustrating, disappointing, angry and difficult. Then rising above those hurdles to enjoy the challenges, interest, fulfillment and fantastic achievements!
Q. What is your biggest challenge working with turtle conservation in the Mediterranean?

A. Raising funds, policy-makers, bureaucracy, ''political cost'' and limited personal communication in the Mediterranean region.
Q. What lies ahead for MEDASSET?
A. Continuing our research, conservation and monitoring projects. Launch of our environmental education programme with a new spin and extending our project on awareness of the impacts of tourism on sea turtle nesting beaches.
Q. Words of wisdom?
A.''To accomplish great things one must not only act but dream''

Converting Chromium: Green Turtles in the Mediterranean
Bern Convention, Council of Europe: 26-29 November, 2007

The Case of the highly endangered green turtles nesting at Kazanli, Turkey was again discussed at the 27th Meeting of the Standing Committee to the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention) at Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.


Kazanli nesting beach: 1.5 million tons of toxic waste
A danger to the Med!
In 2001, MEDASSET brought the Case of Kazanli to the attention of the Bern Convention. A Case File was opened by the Standing Committee in 2002 that was 'provisionally closed' in 2004. The presentation of a PowerPoint on Kazanli by MEDASSET in 2006 with alarming visual content spurred the Delegate of Monaco to propose that the Kazanli Case File be re-opened. It was also proposed for the Convention to liaise with the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) to evaluate the extent of danger of large-scale marine pollution from the 1.5 million tons of toxic waste stockpile located on Kazanli nesting beach.

A Turkish Delegation attended the Bern Convention Meeting this year including a representative from the Soda Chrome Factory. They announced that an engineering study was completed and an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

.Agreement was reached to convert the hazardous toxic waste through a novel process by reducing the chromium 6 to insoluble non-toxic chromium 3 over a period of eight years.

The facility for this operation would be built near the factory and the resulting non-hazardous waste would be moved to a landfill in the hills of the Taurus Mountain.

Help was offered by the Delegate of the Barcelona Convention, provided that Turkey declared Kazanli a Hotspot Area under the Barcelona Convention (MED POL). The Standing Committee decided not to re-open this file yet but to request Turkey to report on progress of implementation.

         ''Turtles in Trouble''! Launched in Greece...
A short animated training DVD for UK tour representatives and another for tourists visiting the Mediterranean has been produced by The Travel Foundation, Marine Conservation Society (UK) and Juniperblue with MEDASSET's cooperation. Subtitled into Greek by MEDASSET allows the DVD to be disseminated over Greece to teach tourists and tour reps about turtle-friendly actions they and their customers can take to mitigate tourism impacts on turtles and nesting beaches in the Mediterranean. To view the animation please click here.

      ''EuroTurtle'' gets a Facelift
EuroTurtle, Europe's first educational website for the conservation and biology of sea turtles and an ongoing joint project between MEDASSET and Dr. Roger Poland, King's College, Taunton UK; is currently undergoing a major facelift. The proposed new site will get a new look as well as have resources dealing with cutting edge conservation issues such as Global Warming, Integrated Coastal Zone Management and the Ecosystems Approach.

To be launched in June, the vision of the new site is to engage all ages in looking at environmental issues through the symbolic mariner- the sea turtle. You may visit the website here: www.euroturtle.org.

''Open your eyes''
Raising Public Awareness
PHILOXENIA- 23rd International Tourism Exhibition, Thessaloniki (N. Greece) 1-4 November 2007
MEDASSET's participation was a great success; using the forum of an international tourism exhibition, to disseminate and screen the 'Turtles in Trouble'

DVD to hundreds of visitors- both Greek and foreigners, tour reps, teachers, students and more. We introduced a'green'' element into an industry that is reliant on a beautiful environment for its future sustainability.

World Animal Day- 4 October 2007
To highlight the plight of endangered animals, MEDASSET joined with the global World Animal Day celebrations in an awareness raising information stall in the centre of Athens.

'Greece our home' Citizens Action 24-27 January 2008
Organised by ''Citizens Action'' in the centre of Athens, MEDASSET participated at an environmental education initiative in the water pavilion-screening the 'Turtles in Trouble' DVD to hundreds of visiting school children.



MEDASSET's New T-shirt Range
+ & >, all sizes
Only €10/£8

20th Anniversary 2008
Good Luck Charm (silver 925?)
by Ilias LALAoUNIS
€ 40/£29




'Highly Endangered Green
Turtle in the Med'
Authentic TY collector's item
€ 10/£7



''The Mediterranean Sea:
A Source of Life''Environmental Education Kit.
€ 14/£13

Life Amphibious: BioSub Underwater Voyage
MEDASSET has partnered with Australian marine biologist Lloyd Godson and his Greek partner Carolina Sarasiti in their underwater 'BioSub' project that is to be launched during September-October, 2008.
Lloyd and Carolina shall make their underwater voyage in two custom-built human powered fish shaped submarines that will 'migrate' 500km through the Ionian Sea off the west coast of mainland Greece. This high-tech innovation will be accompanied by an environmental education outreach programme and interactive broad-casts. For more info please click here

THE TECHNOLOGY: Greek Engineer and Designer Alex Sarasiti to ensure that the Bio-submarines have the most efficient form possible has based the technology on the motion of fast swimming fish such as tuna and mako sharks. A hydrofoil tail fin attached to the pilot legs is used for propulsion and efficient 'automatic transmission'. While a clear polycarbonate dome will allow them to dive to a depth of 50m with a viewing port for video observation of the deep blue.

activities and events


endanger / tr. (v.) 1 To expose to harm or danger; imperil. 2 To threaten with extinction 3 anyone or anything whose continued existence is threatened.