‘EVERYTHING CAN DIE IN THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO’CLIMATE CHANGE — SNAPE
ONE of the creatures that will be most negatively affected by the latest and potential future oil spills in the Eastern Mediterranean is one that is synonymous with North Cyprus: the sea turtle.
Robin Snape, board member of the North Cyprus Society for the Protection of Turtles (Spot), told Cyprus Today about the impact that last month’s oil spill
will have on different parts of the ecosystem.
“In the short-term, where oil hits the shoreline in wet form, it can basically sterilise the rocky and sandy shoreline, depriving all living things of the light they need to photosynthesise and cutting off oxygen so shutting down respiration,” he said.
“So pretty much everything can die in the worst case scenario and this is what we saw in the 2013 disaster at Kalecik [power station in the TRNC], which was one of the Mediterranean’s top 10 worst oil spills.
“Once oiled the birds are completely unable to fly and so cannot forage and die a prolonged, uncomfortable death. Sea turtles can also become oiled and are similarly affected with respiratory problems. If cetaceans come into contact with wet oil then they can have similar issues.
“We were particularly concerned about this recent spill because anything from the Levant area tends to make itself onto the north coast of Cyprus. We saw that with the Israel spill . . . in February and . . . volunteers mustered to clean the beaches before the nesting season.
“During our plastics research we have modelled the source areas of plastics which accumulate more on the north coast than any other, using a method called ‘particle drifter analysis’ and we saw images in the press of hatchlings found dead in the oil, which are likely recently hatched from beaches in Northern Cyprus.
“So for three days we decided that to avoid putting the hatchlings at risk of being killed in the oil, as it moved north of the Karpaz peninsula, we would move all hatchlings from north coast beaches to release them on the west coast.
“We also advertised for emergency volunteer support volunteers from overseas, in case we would have to use barrier fences around the nests to prevent the hatchlings reaching the sea, and patrol the beaches at night to collect hatchlings for release at safe locations.
“Since the Israel spill [in February] we maintain a database of local contacts from all coasts of the TRNC who we can call upon to help in any major emergency and we re-advertised and are expanding that now.
“Thankfully, after consultation with professor İlkay Salihoğlu, who is a member of the Spot board and an oceanographer at the University of Kyrenia, where he is also the dean, and presidential adviser on the oil spill, we resumed hatchling releases at Alagadi.
“There is now no chance that we will see wet material hitting the north coast but we do expect tar to continue to hit the beaches and possibly in larger quantities than we saw in the Israeli spill earlier this year.”
Dr Snape stressed that the sea turtles of North Cyprus face more threats than just oil. “The main threat to sea turtles in North Cyprus is by-catch in the local fishery and fisheries of other countries,” he explained.
“Over a thousand turtles die in fishing nets around Cyprus’s coast each year and we process and record 200-300 cases of stranded turtles or turtles that fishers bring to ourselves or the rehab centre we work with. We have done a huge amount of work on this subject and it was the subject of my PhD.
THREATS
“Other threats are stray dogs and foxes, both of which have been introduced by man. In some areas there are packs of strays searching out turtles on the beaches and eating the eggs from under them as they are laid, so that we don’t even get the chance to put a cage on them to protect them.
“Foxes also dig into and destroy nests and they eat the hatchlings on the beach at night as they emerge from their nests. Like dogs, foxes were also introduced to Cyprus by humans.
“Development is a major threat, although the main beaches are under protection due to Spot’s early work and advocacy during the 1990s.
“Climate change is a looming threat also. Summer storms seem to be becoming more frequent leading to nests being washed over or washed away. Current systems will change, sea levels will rise changing beach suitability and all of these could occur at a rate that turtles, due to their long generation times, are not able to adapt to quickly enough. Sex ratios of turtle offspring are
A Mediterranean shag which was covered in oil during the 2013 Kalecik oil spill in the TRNC
determined by the heat of the sun. We have published studies on most of these issues.”
Asked if the authorities are doing enough to preserve North Cyprus’s turtles and marine wildlife, Dr Snape commented: “Large areas of coast (around 30 per cent of the TRNC coast) have
Specially Protected Area (SPA) status. That is a massive achievement and it includes a large proportion of all the turtle nesting in the country.
“So yes, the authorities took our work and turtle
conservation very seriously indeed. There are of course economic consequences of banning development in those areas and there has been kickback from communities, but we have seen the government stand firm in many areas.
“In some areas though, there has not been sufficient checks and controls, such that some construction has occurred illegally in some of the SPAs, but overall the impact of that has been minimal.
“The SPAs are also not updated as regularly as they should be and so their management plans are now outdated. We have done a lot more research and it is time to integrate those results into those plans.
“More action is definitely needed to manage human activities in the SPAs with wardens, especially during holidays.”
As for what members of the public can do in order to help North Cyprus’ turtles, Dr Snape said: “The biggest contribution anyone can make is to think about sustainability in their everyday lives. From turning the tap off when you brush your teeth, minimising electricity consumption, refusing plastic bags, and minimising waste. . . all of these little things help if everyone does them.
“I think visiting the project in Alagadi and seeing the huge turtles laying their eggs in the sand and covering them up, not to mention the young people giving their lives to protect them, has a huge impact on people’s perception of the natural world and conservation, so book a night watch at Alagadi and encourage others to do so, especially kids.
“Help us to learn more about turtles by reporting stranded or injured turtles to the 1188 hotline, or any other interesting observations.
“And call out illegal activities on nesting beaches such as suspicious construction work, camping or vehicles on the beach. The Department for Environmental protection have a hotline for such complaints which is 123 and the Spot 1188 hotline can also be used.
“Finally, submit your details to our volunteer database for beach cleans and oil spill response, or if you are really keen volunteer for placement working among our summer nesting beach team.”