• It is nearly five years since Greece lost the ECJ case on sea turtle protection in Zakynthos.
• Almost ten months since the then EC Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom sent an official “Reasoned Opinion” to the Greek Government (Final step before reverting to the ECJ).
• Five months since officials from the Greek General Inspectors of Public Administration Office (GEDD) visited Zakynthos to investigate compliance with the ECJ Decision. Their damning 13-page report contained a huge list of steps needed in order to comply with the ECJ judgement and with Greek Law.
• Eight months since the newly appointed Greek EC Commissioner of the Environment, Mr Stavros Dimas, advised lobbying and persistence to bring the desired solutions, although 22 years of what he was suggesting had little effect on Zakynthos!
• Thirteen months after the closing down of the ZNMP, the Minister of the Environment got round to appointing a new President of the NMP Committee then was forced to ask for his resignation after NGO’s revealed that his family had vested interests (illegal building on the nesting beach) in the core area of the National Park! A replacement was appointed on 18-06-05.
• This year Euro MP’s have asked eight Parliamentary Questions about Zakynthos. The German Green Party held a Seminar on Zakynthos at the Euro Parliament, and Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals also got actively involved. Several parliamentary questions have been asked in the Greek Parliament. All these questions and many other enquiries received diplomatic and sometimes untruthful replies.

• Beach guards from the 2003 season and ZNMP staff remain unpaid;
• Vehicles roam the nesting beaches throughout the night unhindered;
• Nesting beaches are strewn with rocks and walls making nesting impossible;
• Beach furniture exceeds double the legal level;
• Nesting this year is almost impossible on Daphne “nesting beach” (Strictly protected), and very difficult in Kalamaki;
• Arson fires on the hills above nesting beaches.
• Speedboats drive wildly across Laganas Bay injuring turtles;
• Dunes are full of garbage and the sea is visibly polluted;
• Horse riders destroy the dunes and wooden walkways obstruct the beaches;
• Large yachts and tour boats anchor in the restricted areas and pollute the Bay;
• Car parking at beaches has been extended;
• New illegal building stopped by the GEDD Inspectors in Feb. 2005 has now been completed and is in use;· Turtles harassed in the water by turtle watching boats and swimmers grabbing a ride;
• No policing of the Bay by the port police;
• No buoys at sea to designate restricted areas.

To sum up, there is absolutely no protection for the sea turtles being exercised by the government or by the local authorities.

In a local Press Release the new President of the ZNMP says she considers Daphne, a strictly protected nesting beach, to be a “lost cause”, referring to walls built 10 – 15 metres from the sea as “anti-nesting obstructions”. She said “the picture there is one of environmental barbarity and abuse of legal order”.

High definition photographs can be found here

MEDASSET