Hospital for sea turtles in Florio establishement (Favignana, TP)

In addition to the rescue center, the PMA Egadi Islands will set up a classroom for environmental education activities.

Last January a contract was signed between the Municipality of Favignana, as the managing body of the "Aegadian Islands" Protected Marine Area and the Regional Center of Trapani and Marsala for cultural sites, on behalf of the Regional Department BB.CC and IS, for the assignment of some premises inside the former Florio Plant of the Tignare di Favignana and Formica, to be allocated to the new Marine Turtle Recovery Center of the PMA.
The room received in assignment will be used by the PMA to set up a marine turtle enclosure and a classroom for environmental education activities, as part of the process of strengthening the First Aid Center for Sea Turtles in function already from 2015, with the support of Legambiente and WWF Italia, while the current structure at Palazzo Florio will be dedicated to the veterinary care of the specimens. The strengthening of the Center is possible thanks to the funding linked to the LIFE + Tartalife project (LIFE12 NAT / IT / 000937), leading the ISMAR-CNR of Ancona, and the sponsorship of the Bolton Alimentari spa group, holder of the Rio Mare brand.

In attachment press release and the newspaper article published in Giornale di Sicilia.

Here are some links that report the news:

objective

reduction of sea turtle mortality in the professional fishing

project in brief

The conservation of Caretta caretta, a priority species included in App. II/IV of the Habitat Directive and protected in various international Conventions, has been representing a strategic issue for the whole Mediterranean basin, with professional fishing being the main threat for the survival of marine turtles: every year about 130000 turtles can be accidentally caught accidentally in the Mediterranean.

The project TartaLife, involving all 15 Italian regions overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, aims at reducing:
- bycatches caused by pelagic longline, bottom trawl and fixed nets by disseminating technical innovations of the fishing gears;
- post-capture mortality through trainings for fishermen and strengthening the marine turtles First Aid/Rescue Centres

TartaLife project

Life+ programme

The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental policy and legislation by co-financing pilot or demonstration projects with European added value.

LIFE began in 1992 and to date there have been four complete phases of the programme (LIFE I: 1992-1995, LIFE II: 1996-1999, LIFE III: 2000-2006 and LIFE+: 2007-2013). During this period, LIFE has co-financed some 3954 projects across the EU, contributing approximately €3.1 billion to the protection of the environment.

Life+ programme