34 marine turtules born in Can Pere Antoni last summer are freed

The Counselling of Agriculture, Fishing and Natural Environment, through the Consortium for the Recovery of Fauna of the Balearic Islands (COFIB), has freed this Tuesday, November 11th, 34 marine turtles (Caretta caretta) born this summer in the beach of Can Pere Antoni (Palma).

The event, celebrated at 5 p.m. at the same beach where the nest was found, has had the presence of the general director of Natural Environment and Forest Management, Anna Torres; the general director of Environment of Palma's Town Hall, Sebastià Pujol; as well as representatives of the COFIB, the Palma Aquarium Foundation, the LIMIA, the Natura Parc Foundation and volunteers that collaborated in the vigilamce of the nest and the tracking of the baby turtles.

According to Anna Torres,«this type of performances show the efficiency of coordinated work between administrations, research centers and conservation entities, and conffirms tha the Balearic Islands have a well-established answer system before the new nesting cases». The general director has pointed out that the «the consolidation of these protocols allow not only improving the reproducing success of the species, but also obtaining essential scientific information about their biology and adpatation to the occidental Mediterranean».

The nest was detected in the beach of Can Pere Antoni last month of July and had 77 eggs, of which 67 were incubated naturally and 10 were moved to an incubator to guarantee its viability. Eclosions were done on days 6 and 7 of September, with and exceptional result: 63 hatchlings succesfully born.

Of these, 39 have been integrated in the program “Head Starting” 2025-2026, led by the COFIB, in accord with the national strategy of the species and in collaboration with other autonomic communities. This program consists in the breeding of turtles into an environment controlled for 10 to 12 months, with feeding and conditions that simulate the natural changes that would experience in nature. The goal is to increase the survival possibilities once they've returned to the sea, as well as improving the scientific knowledge of the first living phases of the species. The hatchlings have been distributed into six marine research and conservation centers: LIMIA, CRAM (Catalonia), Palma Aquarium Foundation, the National Park of Cabrera's Visitants Center and the aquariumd of Seville and Gijón.

Yesterday, Tuesday, November 11th, the 24 left turtles, already developed, have been returned to the sea in their natal beach in an event open to the public that has reunited institutions, entities and civilians.

The Caretta caretta is an species catalogued as vulnerable in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species. Although they usually reproduce in the oriental Mediterranean, just at the beginning of the 21st century they've began nesting in the occidental Mediterranean, probably due to the increment of the temperature of the sea.