A week ago a loggerhead turtle arrived at the Nueva Andalucía beach in Marbella to lay no more and no less than 69 eggs. Thanks to the collaboration of a citizen, who notified the 112 -recommended procedure against this type of events-, technical staff of Algeciras Marine Environment Management Center (CEGMA) launched an action device to locate the nest, identify the eggs and proceed to protect them. This body, dependent on the Junta de Andalucía and managed by the NGO Seashore Fauna, requested help from BIOPARC Fuengirola to participate in this identification and subsequent incubation of some eggs from the nest.

A controlled incubation to guarantee the viability of the greatest number of eggs

After ensuring that all the eggs located were in perfect condition and that the nest was located in a safe place and away from possible flooding due to the tides, the technical team from CEGMA, the Environment and Water Agency, and the Ministry of the Environment Environment of the Junta de Andalucía, together with the technicians of the Marbella City Council, Civil Protection and the Local Police They decided to cordon off the area and establish a 24-hour surveillance device, during the more than 50 days that the incubation on the beach will last, which will be carried out by volunteer staff from various associations for the defense of the marine and coastal environment.

On this occasion, despite not being a large beach, it is not very crowded and the turtle built its nest in a good area of ​​sand, away from the sea line. This has meant that it has not been necessary to move the nest to any other, safer beach. Something that did happen the previous time, when the setting took place on the beach in Fuengirola.

After opening the nest, checking that all the sixty-nine eggs were okay and placing them back in the same position in which the female had left them, it was decided that nine of them would be incubated by the BIOPARC Fuengirola team. “Sixty were kept in the nest because it is the minimum number that this turtle needs so that, under natural conditions, the clutch of hatchlings can succeed and reach what is known as metabolic temperature, that is, the ideal degrees for them to be viable.” and the hatching is a success,” explains Rosa Martínez, veterinarian at the Malaga conservation center.

The decision to transfer nine eggs to controlled incubation is not a coincidence. With this action, the aim is to ensure a representation of the clutch that continues successfully, in the event of a storm, flooding of the nest or predation or looting of eggs. A common action protocol for all turtle nests identified on the coasts of Spain. “In this contracted and stable incubation, the Herpetology team simulates the temperature and humidity they would have in the original nest. These conditions and the state of the eggs are reviewed almost daily to ensure that they succeed,” he highlights.

"Here we carry out this control, but the nest located on the beach of Marbella is also controlled and the CEGMA technical team monitors the state of the temperature and humidity inside, through several data loggers, devices that They record this data, and allow it to be downloaded through a mobile phone, without having to open the nest,” highlights Jesús Recuero, technical and veterinary director of BIOPARC Fuengirola.

From now on, all that remains is to wait for the estimated sixty days of incubation to pass for the eggs to hatch.

In the case of those incubated at BIOPARC Fuengirola, they will spend a quarantine period of about forty-eight hours, and after these two days they will be transferred to the CEGMA in Algeciras along with the offspring that are born on the beach. Although in a natural environment, at birth they would walk directly towards the sea, The small size of these sea turtles makes them easy prey for fish or seagulls.

“There are places where these spawns are carried out en masse, such as on the African coast of Cape Verde. Hundreds of sea turtles lay their eggs at the same time and, therefore, the births also occur at the same time. Thousands of small hatchlings launch into the sea at the same time and the probability of survival is much greater. This is not the case with isolated nests like the one on the Nueva Andalucía beach. If sixty-nine are born, it is very likely that none of the offspring will survive at sea in their first days of life. For this reason, it is essential to guarantee their first year of life in conservation centers and once they reach this age, release them back into the sea,” explains Recuero.

Both those born in BIOPARC Fuengirola and the young that hatch in the located nest, They will spend a year in Algeciras Marine Environment Management Center in what is known as “Head starting” programs. After this time, as happened two years ago, they will be released into the sea.

An unprecedented phenomenon that is repeated on the coasts of Malaga

In 2020, the first laying of loggerhead turtle eggs was recorded (Caretta caretta) on the coast of Malaga. Los Boliches beach in Fuengirola was chosen by a female to build her nest and lay more than seventy eggs. A fact never documented in Malaga.

As on this occasion, a protocol for identification, protection and surveillance of the nest was also implemented, and BIOPARC Fuengirola also assumed the incubation of some eggs. With a strict protocol, the Herpetology and Veterinary teams guaranteed, during the two months of incubation, the levels of humidity, temperature, lighting and oxygen adequate for the eggs to evolve correctly.. The great work carried out allowed the hatching to be a complete success, with one hundred percent of the eggs hatching.

In October 2021, the release of hatchlings of the loggerhead turtles that had survived took place, both from incubation in the nest and artificially. Of all of them, five were equipped with satellite markers. Thanks to them and throughout this year, through this satellite location, it has been possible to monitor the route and positions of each of them in the Mediterranean Sea. The map of its route can be consulted on the website of the marine protection organization Eucrant. Link here

A good part of the turtles born this year from this hatchery in Nueva Andalucía and from the BIOPARC Fuengirola incubator will also be equipped with a satellite marker that will allow us to know their movements in the first years of their life, contributing to greatly increasing knowledge about the species and new trends in its reproduction on the Mediterranean coasts.