Sea turtles in Albania
8 July 2010. The third and final phase of MEDASSET’s project “Monitoring and conservation of important sea turtle feeding grounds in the Patok Area of Albania 2008-2010” was launched on 18 June 2010. Within the framework of MEDASSET’s sea turtle conservation programmes, research, capacity building and awareness-raising has been carried out since 2008 in Patok, on the northern coast of Albania in the Adriatic Sea.
Principal researcher and Sea Turtle specialist, Dr. Michael White was warmly welcomed back by the Patok community and the local fishermen. Sea turtle monitoring and tagging will continue for a third consecutive year at Patok, with the help of Prof. Idriz Haxhiu of the University of Tirana, who collected data through the winter and spring of 2010. As per previous years, the project will train Albanian University students on monitoring methodologies in order to create the foundations for the continuation of sea turtle conservation activities in this country.
On 23 June, 18 loggerhead and 2 green turtles were tagged during an educational field trip of a group of Tirana University biology students. Top Channel News filmed the occasion and interviewed Prof. Haxhiu, who organised the field trip. DNA samples, collected by Dr. White, will help identify the reproductive population that turtles foraging in Patok belong to.
