TARTALOVE: THE SEA TURTLES NEED US!
On the 13th of August, the occasion for of TARTADAY, Acqua dell’Elba launched an initiative in collaboration with Legambiente, with the aim of contributing to the safeguard of sea turtles: until the 31st of December, for every purchase of a 500 ml “Isola d’Elba” home fragrance diffuser (with customised snout) we will donate 10% to the official website of Tartalove.it.
TARTALOVE is Legambiente’s project devoted to the safeguard of marine turtles: just as anything else which contributes to the beauty and diversity of the marine environment, they have a special place in our hearts. Meeting people who take care of these creatures on a daily basis has shown us how increasingly urgent it is becoming to help these animals.
Every year in Italy, 10,000 Loggerhead sea turtles die in captivity, choked by plastic or destroyed by naval traffic. Even their nests are at risk though, thanks to Legambiente, thousands of baby turtles manage to safely reach the sea.
Going into even more detail, some estimates hold that in Italy over 40,000 sea turtles are captured every year through fishing activities, and of these only 10,000 survive. To reduce the mortality rate of sea turtles, Legambiente has created rescue and rehabilitation centres which have saved over 1,600 animals in the last decade. The entity which has rescued the greatest number of sea turtles is the rehabilitation centre of Manfredonia.
50% of the sea turtles rescued by rehabilitation centres have been diagnosed with ingestion of marine waste, especially plastic (in 90% of these cases). Recent studies on Loggerhead sea turtles of the Northern Tyrrhenian have shown plastic ingestion in 71% of the analysed animals. 483 fragments of waste material were recovered from 22 animals, with an average of over 16 for every sea turtle.
In the Mediterranean ocean, there are approximately 7,000 sea turtle nesting sites. Not many of these occur in Italian territorial waters, mostly on the along the coasts of Calabria, Sicily, Puglia, Campania and Tuscany. Between May and August, the egg-laying period, Legambiente has carefully monitored all newly discovered nesting sites. In each case, the perimeter of the area was fenced off to discourage egg predators and prevent damage from tourists on the beach and mechanical beach cleaning machines.
In support of sea turtles, Legambiente has also raised awareness and information levels among various categories such as fishermen, boat owners, students, local administrators and owners of beachfront businesses. Among the latter, the initiative “Lidos in Support of Sea Turtles” (“lidi amici delle tartarughe marine”) was launched, allowing establishments adopting turtle-friendly rules to fly the Tartalove flag above their beaches. This set of rules includes manual beach cleaning practices, reduction of light and volume pollution, distribution of informative brochures and collaboration with sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation centres.
All funds raised through efforts of the Tartalove operation shall be distributed as follows:
• 50% for the upkeep of sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation centres
• 20% to raise awareness among fishermen and local communities
• 18% to fundraising and communications
• 12% to nesting sites monitoring activities
If you would like to contribute to this initiative, aside from purchasing 500 ml “Isola d’Elba” home fragrance diffusers with customised Tartalove snouts, you may wish to follow the link to the official website, purchase T-shirts and mugs with the Tartalove logo, or even decide to symbolically adopt your own sea turtle.
Keep following us: soon we will launch another exciting initiative in connection with Tartalove!
