Sos Marine Turtles: Legambiente launches the TARTALOVE campaign

At the start a symbolic adoption campaign to support the recovery centers and activities for the protection of the turtles that inhabit our seas and that nest along our coasts

About 200 thousand specimens are accidentally caught by fishermen every year; many die because of plastic and ingested waste, many others due to trauma caused by boat traffic. The nests on the beaches can be overwhelmed by tractors beach sweeps and the newborn ones, disturbed by lights and loud noises, can lose their orientation and do not reach the sea. The turtles need to be protected, they must be able to safely make the nests in the sand, they must be able to be treated properly in case of accident and put back into the sea. Symbolic adoption is a concrete gesture that helps to finance the living expenses of the recovery centers, the necessary medicines, the veterinary interventions and the monitoring of the nests.

tartalove_comunicato_stampa.pdf

objective

reduction of sea turtle mortality in the professional fishing

project in brief

The conservation of Caretta caretta, a priority species included in App. II/IV of the Habitat Directive and protected in various international Conventions, has been representing a strategic issue for the whole Mediterranean basin, with professional fishing being the main threat for the survival of marine turtles: every year about 130000 turtles can be accidentally caught accidentally in the Mediterranean.

The project TartaLife, involving all 15 Italian regions overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, aims at reducing:
- bycatches caused by pelagic longline, bottom trawl and fixed nets by disseminating technical innovations of the fishing gears;
- post-capture mortality through trainings for fishermen and strengthening the marine turtles First Aid/Rescue Centres

TartaLife project

Life+ programme

The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental policy and legislation by co-financing pilot or demonstration projects with European added value.

LIFE began in 1992 and to date there have been four complete phases of the programme (LIFE I: 1992-1995, LIFE II: 1996-1999, LIFE III: 2000-2006 and LIFE+: 2007-2013). During this period, LIFE has co-financed some 3954 projects across the EU, contributing approximately €3.1 billion to the protection of the environment.

Life+ programme