The third marine turtles nest of the season in the Balearics is found in Menorca

Specifically, it has been found in Cala Calderer, in the municipal term of Es Mercadal, with a total of 25 alive specimens, four eggs that have yet to hatch and 66 already hatched eggs.

Agriculture, Fishing and Environment Counselling has informed of the discovery of the third marine turtle nest of this season in the Balearic Islands in Menorca. This Wednesday, October 8th, a recently born specimen of the Caretta caretta species was found in Cala Calderer, in the municipality of Es Mercadal. The discovery was done after Wednesday afternoon, after the personal warning of staff of the Vestige Son Ermità hotel, when technicians of the Centro de Recuperación de Fauna Silvestre de Menorca (COFIB) moved to Cala Calderer with the goal of looking for possible signs of a nest in the area. During this inspection, numerous traces of marine turtles hatchlings in the sand were identified and, before the events, the staff of the Marine Fauna Department of the COFIB of Mallorca moved to the area. Finally, the nest could be identified.

The result has been the discovery of 25 marine alive turtles hatchlings, four eggs yet to hatch and 66 already hatched eggs, of which the born turtles would have previously come out. These hatchlings have been moved to the IRFAP-LIMIA facilities, in Mallorca, to form part of the Head Starting program, in which they will stay for 10 months before being introduced into the sea. The non-hatched eggs have been moved to an artificial incubator to control its evolution.

It’s important to highlight the hotel’s collaboration, which has been key to make the access of of the technicians to the creed –a difficult access area and of great natural value–, easing the necessary tools for the specialized staff to be able to arrive with safety and carrying out comprobation and exhumation of the nest tasks.

With this discovery, there’s now three localized marine turtle nests this season in the Balearic Islands, which points to the archipelago as a relevant nesting area for the species in the occidental Mediterranean. With registered nests in Mallorca, Ibiza and now also in Menorca, almost every island has hosted this year a focus spot of Caretta caretta. In the case of Menorca, in concrete, it’s the thor detected nest, since in 2020 two nesting cases were localized in the island,

The Government reminds that this is a vulnerable and protected species, so it’s fundamental warning 112 immediately in any case –no matter if it’s a marine turtle making a nest, a trace or, like in this case, the discovery of hatchlings in the beach–. This information is key to guarantee its protection in the Balearic Islands, as well as following rigorously the evolution of nesting, orienting conservation measures and increasing scientific knowledge on the species in the occidental Mediterranean.