World Sea Turtle Day is celebrated every year on June 16. The day aims to raise international awareness of the importance of preserving this endangered aquatic species. Tunisia has three species of marine turtle, including the loggerhead turtle "Caretta Caretta" (a common species in Tunisia, known as "Fakroun Bhar" or "Gley" in Sfax), the green turtle Chelonia mydas (rarely reported) and the leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea (regularly observed), according to the "COMMON" coastal management and monitoring project for the treatment of marine waste in the Mediterranean, led by the Institut National des Technologies et des Sciences de la Mer and funded by the European Union. In addition to plastic pollution, marine turtles are victims of illegal trade, a practice that remains widespread in Tunisia. Marine turtles are exposed to a variety of threats, including light pollution, which disorients them, climate change (rising sea levels, changes in current patterns, etc.), collisions with boats and urbanisation, and the destruction of nesting beaches. Plastic waste, which accounts for more than 95% of Mediterranean marine waste, remains one of the main threats to marine turtles living in the Mediterranean. Sea turtles can confuse plastic floating in the water with the organisms they are feeding on, and once ingested, plastic can make them feel full and block their feeding instinct, causing malnutrition, intestinal blockages or suffocation. Sometimes, plastic ingestion can cause buoyancy problems, preventing animals from diving for food. Alternatively, some specimens may become trapped in waste in the form of string or nylon netting which, while not causing death, can still cause injury or deformity. According to Legambiente, an Italian environmental NGO, every year in the Mediterranean more than 130,000 Caretta caretta sea turtles fall victim to accidental capture during normal professional fishing operations. Of these, around 70,000 ingest hooks used in swordfish fishing, more than 40,000 remain trapped in bottom trawls and around 23,000 in gillnets. According to the COMMON project, more than 62 million pieces of debris float on the surface of the Mediterranean Sea, but this is just the tip of the iceberg: most of the marine debris is hidden on the seabed. Sea turtles have been present on land for over 150 million years, which means that sea turtles have coexisted with dinosaurs. Unfortunately, their survival is now under serious threat.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse