Great success of attendance for the sixth meeting of the year, SEA TURTLES… ON BEACH, dedicated to discovering the small reptile that this summer has set a new record for its nesting in Italy, with over 600 nests on our coasts, several of which are in the Riviera di Ponente.
The evening was conducted by the Delfini del Ponente APS association, which has been carrying out scientific research on cetaceans, seabirds and turtles and environmental education and awareness activities since 2020. The president and marine biologist Davide Ascheri, together with the young marine biologist Beatrice Grosso, shared their knowledge and experience on the turtles present in the Mediterranean: the Caretta caretta, the Green turtle and the leatherback turtle.
The Carretta caretta this summer has nested on several beaches between Finale Ligure and Arma di Taggia, and it is estimated that the newborns of Ligurian origin are about 320. The nests and hatches were monitored 24 hours a day by the biologists and volunteers of the association, under the coordination of GLIT, Ligurian Sea Turtle Group (Arpal Aquarium of Genoa Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Piedmont, Liguria and Valle d’Aosta).
The increase in nests is certainly also due to climate change that has made coastal waters and Ligurian beaches more suitable for egg laying. However, each nest has the potential of 50-100 newborns, whose probability of getting through the first months of life unscathed is very low. And, once you reach maturity around the age of twenty, the risks remain high: collisions, treacherous hooks, killer nets, toxic pollution, especially from plastic. However, recent studies consider hundreds of thousands of turtles of various species to be present in the Mediterranean.
In addition to several members of our club, the evening was attended by the Mayor of Sanremo, Alessandro Magher, the Commander of the Port Authority Isabella De Luca, the Councilor Dr. Gianni Mascelli, the Honorary President of the Consuls of the Sea and meritorious citizen Gustavo Ottolenghi, the former mayor Lawyer Davide Oddo, Lieutenant Colonel Alessandro Recine, the meritorious citizen and photographer Alfredo Moreschi, the new Consul of the Sea Stefano Puppo, the Councilor of the Famija Sanremasca Paolo Ferrari. Our president Beppe Zaoli thanked all those present, the moderator of the evening our member and Consul of the Sea Gianni Manuguerra and the numerous young students of the teacher and marine biologist Manuela Galli.
The next meeting scheduled for the end of the year on the topic of innovative solutions on wastewater management.