A Potantial Nesting Site for Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta): Yakacık Beach, Türkiye

Abstract

Monitoring of sea turtle nesting beaches in Türkiye have been conducted since 1988 and the number of beaches reached to 22. Mediterranean coast of Türkiye has many small pocket beaches and other inaccessible remote sandy beaches. In this study, I introduce a new nesting site, Yakacık Beach, for the loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) in the border of Antalya and Mersin provinces. Following the preliminary field studies on the 1.7 km long beach, 201 and 197 nests were found in 2020 and
 2021, respectively, and the average nest density of the two years was calculated as 117.6 nests/km-1. Satellite images were also used to ensure and estimate the number of nests. The number of nest and the nest density were compared with the literature and Yakacık has the second highest nest density in Türkiye with a high predation rate up to 68%. The potential importance of Yakacık Beach and threats to the nesting beach and mitigation measures were discussed. Türkiye has one of the most important
 nesting sites for the loggerhead turtles and the green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Mediterranean, with 17 nesting beaches identified in 1989. With the discovery of additional nesting sites such as Çıralı, Alata, Sugözü, Davultepe, and METUKocahasanlı beaches in the following years, the importance of Türkiye for sea turtle populations in the Mediterranean has gradually increased. With this study, a new nesting beach was identified and the importance of Türkiye for the Mediterranean Sea turtles was emphasized.