Marine Turtles Turkey

Marine Turtles Turkey Status survey 1988 and recommendations for conservation and management

~

WWF

Marine Turtles - Turkey Status survey 1988 and recommendations for conservation and management

May 1989

Prepared by World Wide Fund for Nature

~

WWF

Cover picture: Photograph:

Akyatan beach, one of the major sea turtle nesting beaches Max Kasparek

© MAX KASPAREK Verlag . Heidelberg . 1989 BleichstraBe 1 . 6900 Heidelberg . West Germany All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieved system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the permission of the publisher.

ISBN 3·925064-07·9

The WWF Project Team Prof. Dr. ibrahim Baran Dokuz EylOI Oniversitesi Buca Egitim FakOltesi izmir - Turkey

Tom ABmuth Ya~ar Ayylldlz Fatih Balcl Petra Czech Dr. Ethem 416 421-425 435-437 510-512 530-536 630-651 666-672 705-706 717 760-763 804-805 817-821 910-912

4.0 7.2 4.8 11.8 10.0 30.0 16.6 7.4 2.4 10.5 1.0 10.0 5.0 120.7

412 521-523 605 730-735

0.9 2.2 3.7 12.0

length in km

beaches still of vital importance i

Ekincik Kale (nr. Finike) Tekirova Anamur total

18.8

activity and whether protection measures (light screening etc.) are necessary. The length of the beach is some 4.8 km. Patara beach (no. 510 - 512) The beach on both sides of E~en c;:ayr is relatively undisturbed and holds important numbers of nesting loggerhead turtles. It is close to tourist centres and there is a threat from tourist development at Gelemi~ village. The length of the beach is 11.8 km and no tourist facilities are planned on the beach by the Ministry of Tourism. Kumluca beach (no. 530 - 536) This is on the eastern side of the bay of Finike and holds outstanding numbers of loggerhead turtles. Problems are caused mainly by beach huts belonging to local people. The nesting zone of the turtles L'Omprises about half of the bay which is 20.5 km long. Belek region (no. 630-651) Between Antalya and Side, there are important sea turtle nesting areas which should be treated as a unit. For the purpose of this report they have been called the -Belek region". There are already many tourist facilities on the beach. The operation of these establishments is not regUlated, no environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been made and further tourist developments are plan.ned. According to the masterplan for the development of tourism, they will cover the whole beach. At present, beach huts belonging to local people cover a considerable part of the area. The total length of the beach is some 30 km. Klzrlot region (no. 666 • 672) This beach holds extremely high numbers and high nesting densities mainly of Caretta, but also of Chelonia. Similar to the Belek region, there is no management plan and no EIA has been carried out. Several tourist facilities are either being constructed or already operating. However, no tourist facilities are planned by the Ministry of Tourism. There are no beach huts at present on the beach. The beach is 16.6 km long. Demirtas beach (no. 705 • 706) This beach has become of even greater importance for nesting sea turtles since the loss of nesting grounds near Alanya. The beach lacks any protection. No tourist development is planned by the masterplan. There is evidence that lights from a camp site and hotel are disorienting mature turtles and hatchlings. The length of the beach is 7.4 km.

26

Gazipa~a

~ 2

I

:

I

I

I

I

I

I

I I

I I

I

,I ,, , ,

3

!

I

I

I I I

I

I

I

•••

I

I

I

I I

I

I

760

761

763

76'

764

765

768

I

I

I

10

20

30

761 km

Fig. Nesting density of sea turtles in the Gc'iksu delta, based on track counts in 1988. The upper abscissa shows the beach numbers (ID-numbers of the beach inventory), the lower abscissa the distance from a holiday village near Tasucu. For the calculation of the nesting density, all tracks were used which were not definitively false crawls.

Land use:

from a few metres to about 80 m. Behind the beach, low sand dunes, rice fields and wetlands are located. The sand dunes are densely covered with scrub and are often rather steep. On the beach, there is much notsam like branches of trees ele. Towards the north, the beach becomes somewhat wider and the sand dunes at the back higher. Dunes of 10 m height are found there. The beach to the south of Susanoglu is used for tourists and many new tourist projects are underway in 766-767. One tourist centre at Altmkum is particularly worth mentioning. However, the infrastructure (especially roads) is still bad,

101

Pollution: Turtle situation:

Other fauna:

Protection:

there are e.g. no bridges over the drainage channels close to the mouths. There is some camping on the beach (mainly in the northern half) and anglers are active mainly around the mouths of the small stream coming from Oktem