SCOPRITARTA - The success of the closing day

The second and last edition of the Scopri-Tarta environmental education programme ended with a large participation of pupils and teachers of the winning classes.

An intense day, which in the morning saw at least 400 pupils from all Sicilian provinces to participate with great enthusiasm on the beach of San Leone at the release of a specimen of Naval Turtle, curated in the Maritime Turtle Recovery Center in Lampedusa. Event coordinated by the Free Consortium with the support of the Faunistic-Venating Department of Agrigento, the operators of the Torre Salsa Nature Reserve of the WWF and of the biologist Daniela Freggi, director of the Lampedusa Recovery Center.

In the afternoon, however, the award ceremony of the winning classes, attended by the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Liberal Consortium dr. Giuseppe Marino, visibly satisfied with the content of the project and the great participation of the schools, and who expressed appreciation for the work of the staff of the Environment Department directed by dr. Fabrizio Caruana. Also present are the deputy head of the provincial school office Prof. Stefania Lerna and the WWF president of Agrigento Giuseppe Mazzotta.

The list of winning classes is published on the website of the Free Consorzio Comunale www.provincia.agrigento.it and on the website of the project www.tartalife.eu

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