As loggerhead turtles spread west, Mediterranean beach resorts learn to share the sand

In a warm July morning, rows of sun umbrellas remain folded along the shores of Castel Volturno, a coastal town in Campania, Italy, about 22 miles northwest of Naples. A small group gathers near a control screen while a drone scans the coastline, looking for tractor-like tracks in the sand. At the first sign of turtle tracks, members of the group swiftly move to the location and erect a fence to protect the area.

During summer, loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) lay their eggs on Mediterranean beaches. After roughly two decades of growth at sea, the females return to the same beaches where they were born to nest. Traditionally, loggerhead nesting in the Mediterranean occurred predominantly in the eastern and central basins, particularly in Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus.

The western basin, located west of the eastern basin, was mainly utilized as a foraging ground by juvenile turtles.

However, over the past five decades, the number of loggerhead nests in the western basin has steadily increased. This includes nesting sites along the shores of Italy, France, and Spain. In Calabria, Italy, evidence of loggerhead nesting activity was first observed in the early 2000s. Over time, this activity gradually expanded northward to the French coast and westward. Researchers like Fulvio Maffucci are using drones to locate and monitor these nesting sites.