Loggerhead sea turtle

By Giorgos Lialios

The European Commission has on numerous ocassions demanded that Greece tighten its protection of Kyparissia Bay on the western coast of Messinia in the southwestern Peloponnese, which is a key nesting site of the endangered Caretta caretta loggerhead sea turtle.

A group of 11 environmental groups including WWF Greece have written a joint letter to the Environment Ministry warning that a key breeding ground of the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) – the Gulf of Kyparissia in the western Peloponnese – is under threat.

The European Commission on Friday announced that it is taking Greece to court over its failure to impose legislation for the protection of the Caretta-caretta loggerhead sea turtle, an endangered species that is endemic to the southern Ionian Sea and which nests there.