Researchers hope that the turtles hatched from the clutches found on Ibiza beaches in 2019 and 2020, which have been released, can return “to lay their eggs on the beaches of Ibiza where they were born and released,” explained scientist Raquel Vaquer-Sunyer.
The coordinator of the “Balearic Sea Report 2021” reported on the presentation of this study that in 2019 turtle nests were found on Balearic beaches for the first time in decades.
In 2019, two nests were located in Ibiza and in 2020, there were three nests: two in Menorca and one in Ibiza. In 2019, they produced 160 eggs and in 2020, there were 340. 37 turtles hatched from egg-laying in 2019, and 159 in 2020.
Scientists believe that these new nests may come from lost or non-filopatric turtles who do not return to nest in the same place where they were born. Or they could reflect colonisation from other nesting colonies.
Vaquer-Sunyer explained that this phenomenon “could be related in some way to climate change” and to the northward migration of turtles in search of beaches with more ideal temperatures for nesting.
She stressed that in turtles, the percentage of males and females changes with temperature. So it might be that, in order to make sure that there is the same proportion of males and females, they might “go into colder areas”.
She also pointed out that the turtles hatched from eggs laid on Ibiza’s beaches “were released into the sea after a year to ensure their survival and are expected to lay their eggs again on the beaches of Ibiza where they were born and released”.
The report also shows that between 1993 and 2020, 1,058 turtles were found aground in the waters of the Balearic Islands: 512 live and 546 dead.
In 2020, the maximum number of stranded turtles was found (83), 30 dead and 53 alive, of which 47 survived.