SEA TURTLES

IN THE
MEDITERRANEAN
Sea turtles are ancient mariners that have existed for
over 100 million years. They spend their lives at sea.
Only female adults come ashore to nest in the sand.

LOGGERHEAD (Caretta caretta) GREEN TURTLE (Chelonia mydas) LEATHERBACK (Dermochelys coriacea)
Origin of name: Large head with powerful jaws Origin of name: Green colour fatty tissue Origin of name: Shell is made of tough, oily
under its shell and rubbery skin

NW Atlantic
subpopulation

Colour of hatchling: Colour of adult: Colour of hatchling: Colour of adult: Colour of hatchling: Colour of adult:
Light to dark grey Reddish-brown on Black on top, white Varies from brown to olive or Black with white stripes Black with white
top, yellow-orange underside grey with colourful streaks on top and flipper spots on top, whitish
underside on top, yellowish underside edges underside

DIET
Molluscs

Adult Pelagic
tunicates

Crustaceans

Juvenile Sea cucumbers

Sea urchins

Sponges
Hatchling
Seaweeds &
seagrass

Jellyfish

AVERAGE SIZE DOCUMENTED NESTS

Comparison of the average size of turtles as Average number per year Locations
hatchlings and as full grown adults. 7.500
90% 99%
Adults: 130 cm 6.000 Greece, Turkey Cyprus, Turkey
Hatchling: 50 mm
4.500

Adults: 90 cm
3.000
Hatchling: 45 mm

1.500

BREAKS
Adults: 75 cm
Hatchling: 40 mm
0

BETWEEN
0 0+1.500 +1.5007.200 7.200
NESTING

NESTING SITES Nesting in lower numbers occurs in other locations not marked on this map:
Green turtles nest on beaches east of Line 1. Loggerheads occasionally
nest in several other locations throughout the Mediterranean, including in
I t a l y, S p a i n a n d F r a n c e , t h o u g h n o n e s t i n g i s r e p o r t e d i n t h e N o r t h A e g e a n
Sea and Adriatic Sea, Morocco and Algeria.
LOGGERHEAD (>50 NESTS)
A few Leatherbacks enter the Mediterranean to feed, but nesting has not
LOGGERHEAD (20-50 NESTS)
been documented.
GREEN (>50 NESTS)
GREEN & LOGGERHEAD (>50 NESTS)

FRANCE SLOVENIA

CROATIA
MONACO
BOSNIA &
HERZEGOVINA

ITALY MONTENEGRO
SPAIN ALBANIA

GREECE
TURKEY

SYRIA
ALGERIA CYPRUS
LEBANON
MOROCCO MALTA
TUNISIA

ISRAEL
1
PALESTINE

EGYPT
S o u r c e s : I U C N , M E D A S S E T, S W O T. LIBYA

NATURAL PREDATORS MAXIMUM DIVING

DURING LIFECYCLE DEPTH
RECORDED

EGGS HATCHLINGS JUVENILES &

Foxes, lizards, jackals, weasels Seagulls, cormorants, ADULTS
crabs, lizards, snakes Fish, sharks and
occasionally seals
-200

110m

233m
THREATS FROM HUMAN ACTIVITIES
-400
CLIMATE CHANGE UNPLANNED & UNCONTROLLED LIGHT POLLUTION
Will lead to sea level rise that will COASTAL DEVELOPMENT Disorientates hatchlings inland instead
eventually destroy nests. Rising sand Leads to the destruction of nesting of to the sea. Adults too are
temperatures may lead to nests beaches. disoriented causing them to abort
producing only females or no hatchlings emerging to nest.
at all. Sex is determined by the nest
temperature. Cooler nests (<28°C)
produce only males, warmer ones
(>30°C) only females.

-600

OIL SPILLS
Affect sea turtles and their
habitats at all stages of life,
causing direct mortality,
-800
increased embryo mortality and
developmental defects. DESTRUCTIVE FISHING TECHNIQUES
Damage or entirely destroy important sea
EXPLOITATION turtle feeding habitats such as seagrass beds.
Of eggs or turtles for consumption or
INCIDENTAL CATCH artefacts. Not frequent in the Mediterranean.
over 132,000
turtles are captured annually unintentionally by
fishing gear, causing at least
MARINE DEBRIS

44,000
Kills thousands of sea turtles and
other marine creatures when they INTENTIONAL KILLING
deaths. become entangled or mistake it During fishing activities is a relatively
for food. On nesting beaches, widespread practice in the -1000
garbage becomes a deadly trap Mediterranean.
“GHOST FISHING” for hatchlings, making them more
When lost, abandoned or deliberately discarded vulnerable to predators. Toxic
fishing gear traps sea turtles and other marine substances contained in plastics
creatures. are passed up the food chain.
Predators – like sea turtles – +1,000m
are worst affected.

References
• The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015-4. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 17 December 2015
• IUCN (2012). Marine Mammals and Sea Turtles of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Gland, Switzerland and Malaga, Spain: IUCN. 32 pages.
• Sea Turtles in the Mediterranean: Distribution, Threats and conservation priorities, Paolo Casale & Dimitris Margaritoulis, 2010, IUCN.
• Casale P. (2008). Incidental catch of marine turtles in the Mediterranean Sea: captures, mortality, priorities. WWF Italy, Rome.
• ICRAM, “Testudines of the Mediterranean and Black Seas”, 2001.

Founded in 1988, MEDASSET is an international environmental NGO registered as a charity and limited liability company in the UK and a
Permanent Observer-Member to the Bern Convention, Council of Europe. MEDASSET is working closely with MEDASSET Greece -a
not-for-profit organisation established in 1993 in Greece, which is a partner to the UN’s Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP). Both
organisations are active in the study and conservation of sea turtles and their habitats throughout the Mediterranean. Common goals are
achieved through scientific research, environmental education, lobbying relevant decision makers, and raising public awareness.

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