A Loggerhead turtle laid her eggs on a beach on the island of Porquerolles on the night of July 14 to 15. It was the employees of the cleaning company who discovered the traces early this Saturday morning. This is an “exceptionally rare phenomenon” according to experts.
It was the beach cleaners who made the discovery on the morning of July 15. On a very busy beach on the island of Porquerolles, they observe what looks like traces of the passage of a turtle in the sand. Contacted, the guards monitors of the Port-Cros National Park will quickly confirm that it is indeed a turtle that has come to lay eggs there.
An extremely rare phenomenon according to the various local actors in the protection of biodiversity. Sidonie Canetteau is the local referent of the French Mediterranean Marine Turtle Network (RTMMF).
For some time now, the network has been observing adult and therefore sexually mature sea turtles off the coast of France. “We were on standby, we expected to see nesting females arriving but perhaps not as numerous already this year”.
For her, several hypotheses could explain these clutches which are multiplying:
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Sidonie Catteau, local referent of the French Mediterranean Marine Turtle Network (RTMMF) explains the hypotheses of this spawning • ©A.Lalli/FTV
Quickly, barriers were put in place by park officials to protect the spawning area. The mayor of Hyères issued a municipal decree to protect the site. Agents from the Port Cros National Park, municipal police and departmental services from the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) will ensure regular surveillance of the nesting site day and night.
Billboards and awareness panels have also been installed on this beach, which is very popular with tourists during the summer season.
On this very busy beach in summer, cleaning agents have identified traces of turtle eggs • © Association Marineland
On the scientific side, the site will be regularly observed and temperature monitoring instruments will be put in place to “to collect scientific data necessary for a better understanding of the phenomenon” says a statement from the Marineland Association.
It will take about 55 days to witness the hatching if all goes well.
More frequent spawning in the Mediterranean
This is not the first time that a turtle has come to lay eggs in the region. Very recently, one of them was observed twice on a beach in Villeneuve-Loubet on the night of July 2 to 3.
Although the phenomenon remains rare, it has become more frequent in recent years. Nests had been identified in Saint Aygulf in 2016 and in Fréjus in 2020, or in Herault in recent years. For 10 years, the Spanish and Italian coasts have also gradually become privileged nesting sites for turtles.
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