'Egg-watch' volunteers needed to keep unhatched sea turtles safe

TARRAGONA city hall is seeking volunteers to 'monitor' 99 turtle eggs laid on a beach to make sure they are safe and hatch.

The loggerhead turtle, or caretta caretta, laid her eggs on El Miracle beach on Friday night, but unlike birds, turtles do not 'sit' on their eggs to keep them warm until they hatch – they simply deposit them and leave.

This means they are potentially at risk from predators, vandals and the elements and, as they are such a rare and environmentally-valuable sight, authorities want to keep them out of harm's way.

But this involves watching them round the clock, so they need extra humans to help out.

So far, biologists from the regional government have safely and carefully collected up 15 eggs, which are now in incubators, meaning they should hatch without problems and, once the baby turtles have grown enough and been introduced to conditions mirroring their natural habitat, they can be released back into the sea.

The remaining 84 eggs are buried under the sand, and the area has been cordoned off by Tarragona police.

Some volunteers have already come forward, and are watching them in shifts of either two hours in the morning or four hours in the afternoon and evening, or even both if they can do it.

Those who would like to help but cannot manage this many hours would still be welcome – enough people taking turns of 30 minutes or an hour at a time would mean the eggs never had to be left unattended.

It is quite likely that if anyone prefers to do a night shift, this would be considered extra-helpful as it would relieve environmental specialists from covering unsociable hours.

Organisations involved are hoping to find at least 100 volunteers for the summer, as they would also like help in combing the beach to see if other turtle nests have been buried there.

As the 'egg-watch' operation is in summer and on the beach, it is hoped there will not be too many problems finding helpers – members of the public could combine it with sunbathing, and it would even give them a legitimate excuse to relax on the beach if they felt they needed one.

Anyone in the area who is willing to give some of their time can contact Tarragona city council's 'green line' on (0034) 977 296 222, or email them at mediambient@tarragona.cat.