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ARCHELON: the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece

Nicole Anson
Sep 8, 2016
2 min read

One of my dad's many friends Mike V volunteers at a place called ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece. Today's blog is all about ARCHELON, what it is and what it does.

ARCHELON is the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece helps protect sea turtles and their habitats in Greece through monitoring and research, developing and implementing management plans, habitat restoration, raising public awareness and rehabilitating sick and injured turtles. The main turtle they protect is the Loggerhead Sea Turtle.

Facts about ARCHELON:

ARCHELON relies mostly on voluntary work, every year over 500 volunteers from all over the world are invited to help
Around 75 kilometres of Greece's major nesting areas (Zakynthos, Peloponnesus and Crete) are monitored daily
Every year over 2,500 nests are protected against human threats, predation and sea inundation
Every year around 300 turtles are tagged in order to monitor their movements in the sea and recently satellite transmitters have been used
Over 50 injured sea turtles are treated every year at the Rescue Centre at Glyfada (Athens)
Over 15,000 students participate every year in the educational programmes

Facts about Loggerhead Sea Turtles:

Loggerhead Turtles are named for its exceptionally large head and its scientific name is Caretta caretta
Loggerheads measure up to 1.1 meters long when fully grown, weighing approximately 135 kilograms and have a lifespan of 47-67 years
Loggerhead Sea Turtles are omnivorous, feeding mainly on invertebrates like mollusks, crustaceans, horseshoe crabs, clams and mussels
Female Loggerheads between the age of 17 to 33 will usually mate every 2 to 4 years
Their status on the IUCN Red List internationally is Endangered but in the United States it's threatened
Fishing gear is the biggest threat to loggerheads in the open ocean as they often become tangled in longlines or gillnets