Issue No. 9 October 2010 - June 2011
UNEP/MAP: The colossal challenge... At a meeting of the Mediterranean coastal states in Barcelona in 1975, an Action Plan for the protection of the Mediterranean Sea and the coast (MAP) was adopted. UNEP was entrusted with the task of coordinating the activities of the Mediterranean governments to develop and implement this Plan. Rarely has an organization had to operate in a more difficult and ephemeral environment than has the UNEP/MAP. It has been working for 36 years over three continents, with the European Union and 21 countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, and speaking more than 15 different languages overlaid with a number of dialects. Its aim to cope with environmental degradation in coastal and inland areas and to link sustainable resource management with development, in order to protect the Mediterranean region, is a colossal challenge indeed. MAP is asked to work through collaboration with Mediterranean governments, most of which give overriding precedence to economic growth. MEDASSET has been working successfully with MAP since 1985 on several projects and in several countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Albania, and Turkey. The centre of MAP's activities is the MAP Coordinating Unit (MEDU), which has been based in Athens, Greece since 1982.
Lily Venizelos President MEDASSET IUCN MTSG Member
Three-year research reveals important sea turtle feeding ground MEDASSET's research has confirmed that Drini Bay, on the northern coast of Albania, is a regionally and nationally important habitat for loggerhead sea turtles in the Mediterranean. Turtles use the Bay as a foraging ground, refuge and part of a key, as a refuge and as part of a key migratory corridor between the Ionian and Adriatic Seas. Information on the sea turtle population visiting Albania's waters had been scarce and research fragmented until 2008. Based at the Patok Lagoon area in Drini Bay, MEDASSET's researchers systematically collected data from June 2008 to October 2010 and monitored turtles captured incidentally in "stavnikes", a type of static fish-trap used in the area.
IN THIS ISSUE -UNEP/MAP: The colossal challenge... -Three-year research reveals important sea turtle feeding ground -Bern Convention Meeting at Council of Europe: 6-9 December 2010 -Greece: Sea Turtle Conservation in Zakynthos at its worst! -Campaign: Turtles in trouble in Fethiye, Turkey -TUI interational travel group and MEDASSET promote sea turtle conservation in Turkey -Patara sea turtle nesting and important heritage site to be sacrificed to development for tourism in Turkey -Kyparissia Bay: the legitimacy of new building developments is being investigated! -Turtles in Cyprus... in trouble! -"Sammy's Adventures" -"Join In and Clean Up" -We Were There‌ -RCL "Ocean Fund� Project -Racing for the Sea Turtles! -Education -Events -Gift Shop
402 loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) were studied and released back into the wild, as well as 5 green turtles (Chelonia mydas), confirming that Albania is a range state for this species also. Two out of ten turtles were either captured more than once within the same 1