The Katelios Group has monitored the population of Loggerhead sea turtles in Kefalonia and on Mounda beach since 1999.
Every season we collect some baseline data about nesting turtles and their nests.
During nesting season (roughly June-July) we record:
- turtle's general health
- turtle tag ID
- turtle size
- nesting time and date
- nest position (see pic right)
- failed nesting attempts
During hatchling season (roughly August-September) we record:
- hatching dates and incubation periods
- number of eggs
- number of succesful eggs and success rate (see picture right)
- reasons for failure
- pattern of hatchling emergence from nest
The combination and analysis of data helps us understand nesting patterns and behaviours. For example tags have unique IDs that identify single turtles. It's like giving them a name. We can then find out when and where they prefer to nest. In certain seasons we might collect, on top of these baseline data, other types of data for specific purposes. We then use this data for conservation. So we can, for example, check the distribution of nests along the beach, and see if it is influenced by hotels, sun beds, roads and in general human disturbance on the beach.
We are very aware that some of our work, like tagging, may cause distress to turtles, and we are always working on alternative, less invasive ways. We believe that everything we do to turtles and living beings in general must be thought through and justified in terms of conservation, and not just in the abstract name of scientific research. In our context, research is a means to an end, the end is conservation, and the end doesn't always justify the means, especially when there is an apparent conflict. In other words, we are not going to play around with nests to see 'what happens if...'.