The much-anticipated hatching of the Leatherback Turtle’s eggs in Gnejna has caught the attention of many enthusiasts, but how much do people really know about what goes on behind the scenes of such happenings on our island?

The Malta Independent spent some time at the current with Nature Trust President Vincent Attard and some of his volunteers, to get a clear picture of how much work is put into the conservation and rehabilitation of protected wild-life in Malta.

Although Nature Trust cares for all protected species, turtles tend to be the most severely injured, and costly in nature.

Traditional long-line fishing has resulted in by-catch – by-catch is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while catching certain target species and target sizes of fish, crabs etc. If a fisherman would have just left port, the tendency is for them to simply cut the line loose. This means that the line with the hook is left stuck to the turtle.

Attard explained to us that whilst this still happens, there has been a net increase of fisherman bringing turtles back to shore themselves.

Photos Alenka Falzon

Full capacity and painful injuries

The tanks are currently at full capacity as after any hooks, lines, or any other damaging materials are removed, the turtles still need to be rehabilitated. This means that if any new victims of marine pollution are brought to shore, the centre would unfortunately not be able to provide the necessary care.

Some of the cases do indeed pull at your heartstrings – seeing such majestic creatures so helpless and in pain really puts the damage being done to our seas into perspective.

One particular turtle was hit by a boat in 2015. He was hit by a propeller, leaving his neck cut up, shell cracked, and he had lost a flipper on the front side of its body. For the first eight months he had to be fed by the volunteers, and his eyes had to be tapped frequently to make sure he’s still alive.

Today he’s fully recovered, but the problem remains whether he will be able to cope in the wild.  He’s been tested with live fish to see if he’s capable of eating alone, something he hasn’t been able to do as of yet. It seems to be because he is ignoring the fish when they go on the opposite side of the lost flipper. The vet fears for him as releasing him would lead to his starvation, so it is essentially a death sentence.

Also, the prosthetic flipper has not attached itself properly, so a breakthrough in technology is sorely needed to possibly find an alternative and give him a second chance at a normal life.

The largest turtle in the centre right now is Mayo. He was brought in by a fisherman, and was found with three metres of thick fishing line and two hooks stuck to him. Until now, 1.5m of fishing line and one hook have been removed, along with pieces of plastic from his stomach.

He also has some barnacles attached to his shell which occurs naturally out at sea, but the plan is to remove them soon as they could start eating away at it.

Previously at the centre was a turtle named ‘Letiz’ who spent three years in rehabilitation. She suffered from chronic lung malfunction, and had issues staying stable whilst in the water. Every other centre told Nature Trust that they wouldn’t manage to help Letiz, but they persisted and decided to start adding weights to stabilize her as best they could. One fine day, after three years, she stabilized, and they were able to take off the weights. She was monitored for six months, after which the vet cleared her to be released.

About three years ago a leatherback turtle came into Malta, and unfortunately the turtle didn’t make it so a necropsy was conducted, as instructed by law. It was found to have died from swallowing a balloon which caused severe inflammation in its stomach.

‘Tank sores’ are another problem they tend to face when they are brought into the centre. When they are first put in a tank they’d go to the bottom and stay there – very different from how they behave in the open sea.

The volunteers make sure to treat the sores to prevent infection whenever possible.

The cost of doing ‘business’

Caring for animals is no cheap endeavour, and Nature Trust relies on support from the public by way of donations, as well as help from the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) with vet costs and medication.

They also receive support from various other private businesses and organisations, some of which have provided them with funds for a solar heater and the killifish conservation project, amongst many other donations.

The tanks being used for the turtles were previously fish tanks, and were donated to them by the Government until the dedicated centre has been completed.

They were granted €2 million grant from the EU for the dedicated centre project. The Maltese government is helping them co-finance the other 20% necessary to complete the new premises as €400,000 is a steep price for an NGO, but in exchange they’ve made an agreement to also house all protected wildfire. This includes animals which were smuggled into the country and are awaiting release from the law courts. They have a high success rate so it makes more sense for us to care for them ourselves until a decision is made.

When a decision is made they start the repatriation process to return the animals to their country of origin, which is done through making contact with NGO from other countries to ensure all procedures are done correctly.

Malta also has an obligation from the EU to have a centre like the one being constructing by Nature Trust – be it run by the government, the private sector, or an NGO. They are offering a solution to the authorities.

The primary goal of the centre is to not only to decrease the loss of biodiversity as much as possible, but to actually develop it sustainably as well.

Where’s the public exposure?

Although they do not enjoy doing public releases, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recommends such releases to increase public awareness. IUCN tells them to make use of the turtles to show people the damage plastic does in our seas.

They’re also not a “militant” NGO like Greenpeace, we’re low profile. Whilst protests and demonstrations are important, somebody has to do the dirty work, and we are more than prepared to do that. We do the work on the ground, although we do criticize where necessary.

Volunteers

Volunteers need an ERA permit because they are handling protected wildlife. They are two types of volunteers – rehab volunteers, who would be the ones here at the centre, and rescue volunteers, who would be the persons who call the NGO and inform them on the whereabouts of any injured animals.

After that, the animal is taken to the vet who proceeds to diagnose the animal, and they are then brought to the centre for rehabilitation. Other animals are kept at the various households of the most experienced volunteers until they are ready to be released.