A sea turtle of the protected Loggerhead species, common in the Mediterranean, was discovered laying a hundred eggs on a beach in Hérault on the night of Saturday to Sunday, we learned from firefighters of the department.
Around midnight and a half, on the beach of Valras, a seaside resort very popular with tourists in summer, it was a passerby who alerted the firefighters.
Supported by the technical services of the town hall, they also installed protective markings around the nest.
“
It's an urban beach.
We made a closed perimeter of 50 meters in diameter around the nest, with prohibition of passage.
For two months, there will be no passage at this point on the beach, for all services, including emergency services
, ”explained to AFP Olivier Sébastien, director of technical services at Valras-Plage.
A rare situation
“
This is the first time that we have found a nest here, but that does not mean that these turtles, common in the Mediterranean, never come.
She was probably born on this same beach twenty or thirty years ago, since these turtles come to lay their eggs where they were born
", detailed one of the managers of CESTMed (Center for the study and protection of Mediterranean marine turtles ), Cindy Capdet, who came during the day to observe and protect the nest.
Read alsoIn video, Gisele Bündchen frees a turtle caught in a net on a Miami beach
“
What is rare is to witness the laying and then be able to protect the nest.
If no one had passed by this place at this precise moment, the turtle would have left without anyone knowing of the presence of this nest under the sand
,” she added.
The incubation period for loggerhead sea turtle eggs is about two months.
During this time, this part of the beach will therefore be protected from all traffic.
"
We asked the town hall not to pass machinery on the beach, so as not to cause vibrations in the nest which would break the development of the egg
," said Cindy Capdet.
A surveillance camera has been installed in front of the nest.
The temperature of the latter is also controlled since it must oscillate “
between 24 and 34 degrees
” under the sand.
“
If the nights become too cool, we will consider moving the nest
,” warned the CESTMed manager.
Read alsoThe turtles of Jesolo: "We have never seen such a northern hatching"
The Loggerhead turtle, also called Caretta Caretta, can exceed one meter in length.
It generally lays eggs on the beaches of the central and eastern Mediterranean, rather in Greece, Tunisia or Italy.
But the Marine Turtle Observatory of Metropolitan France has noted more regular breeding activity since 2016 for this protected species.
A phenomenon that would be due to the increase in surface temperature in the French Mediterranean.
Sea turtle nests were thus observed in Fréjus, in the Var, in 2020 or even in 2018 in Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone, in the Hérault, reminded the CESTMed to AFP.
