Cofete beach welcomes four new turtle nests with more than 700 eggs

As part of the reintroduction program for the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) to Fuerteventura , where they disappeared from three centuries ago

Just 20 hours after they were placed on the beaches of El Batao (Cape Verde) in a coastal area flooded by the tides, and therefore suspceptibles of failure , about 700 turtle eggs were transfered and deposited in four nests on Cofete Beach ( Pájara , Fuerteventura ) , within the framework of the proposed reintroduction of breeding turtles to Fuerteventura, Developed by the Cabildo of Fuerteventura through the Ministry of Environment, Gobierno de Canarias , ULPGC and the Center for Scientific Research , in collaboration with the Government of Cape Verde.

The process was followed this afternoon by neighbors and volunteers of the project, first vice president of the Cabildo , Guillermo Conception , the Minister for the Environment , Natalia Evora , the general director of the Natural Environment , Francisco Martin, and Councilman Pájara Environment Fares Sosa. Prior to the arrival of the eggs there was a drop of three turtles by volunteers and collaborators.

Within 20 hours the eggs were transferred today from the island of Boa Vista , Cape Verde, to the beach Cofete, in the fifth annual shipment Reintroduction Project of this species.

The 700 eggs were buried at 40 cm depth in several nests by the team of biologists monitoring the project ULPGC , mimicking the process followed in the wild turtles .

Natalia Evora, explained, " Now we only have at all times to monitor the development of the nests and wait for the weather to join us on this occasion to repeat the hatching rate . It is a very important project and there is much world wide scientific interest.

The gestation period turtle embryos can extend between 40 and 70 days , depending on temperature and humidity conditions in which they are . This fifth experience is, among those carried out so far , the fast transfer of the eggs, to prevent the cold that could affect the development of eggs.

Recent references to the presence of these animals nesting in the Canarian beaches go back 300 years ago, as there are historical documents that proved their existence on the island until the eighteenth century. Although the current reintroduction project was conceived a decade ago, when investigators found a set of leatherback turtle eggs on the beaches of Sotavento. From that moment, under the supervision of Professor Luis Felipe López Jurado ( ULPGC) and with the initiative of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura and Pájara City Council , began working for the reintroduction of the species Caretta caretta. The project also involved the Canary Islands Government , through the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Education , Science and Research , through the CSIC.

During these ten years of previous work has been monitoring the quality of beach sand , the water quality , temperatures and forms of reproduction. In collaboration with the ULPGC also volunteers and technicians have been trained in Cape Verde, where each year they are more than 10,000 nests. Through this experience, three years ago there was a first shipment of eggs from two of these nests , while last year made the second move.

From the hatching turtles will be transported to the Turtle Nursery christened in Morro Jable, where he was launching a "nursery" for a year to nurture the development of these turtles in anticipation of potential predators , then be returned to the sea at large. This procedure would be repeated for several years, since it is estimated that the first turtles hatched in the sand on the beach Cofete may return to carry out his first start around ten years old.

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