Within the Municipality of Sitia, there are beaches which the sea turtles, Caretta-Caretta, visit every year in order to build their nests and leave their eggs to incubate.
Illegal activity or bad management of theses beaches, often leads to a disturbance for the turtles and results in them not laying their eggs on time, something which then creates an immediate threat, to the future of the species.
Today, Friday 21st April, in cooperation with the Organisation for Social and Cultural Development in Sitia, the Geopark of Sitia and volunteers from the Caretta-Caretta protection group, the Council positioned wooden posts along the beachfront of Karavopetra, to prevent access to the beach for vehicles, especially during the season when the turtles lay their eggs.
Motor vehicles will be banned from the sand, along with all types of “construction”. Fires are no longer permitted to be lit on the beach and the wooden pathways and sun beds that are laid during the day, and that are not collected at night time are the main causes of disturbance for the sea turtles. We hope, said a representative of the Council, that the businesses who operate on the beach, will as in other years, collect their sun beds again this year, at the end of the day.
This intervention will also contribute to maintaining the rare flora found on this beach, which requires protection for it’s survival. The Pancratium Maritimum, or Beach Lily and other species such as Lygeum Spartum, Ammophila Arenaria, Centaurea Aegiphila, are all important species to the Eastern Mediterranean and are found in other parts of Crete, but in particularly, in the coastal zone of the wetlands of Plakopoula, Hiona and Sitia.
The volunteers were thanked for their generous efforts in protecting and supporting the respect for this very rare biotope that exists in Sitia.