Fundación Azul Marino returns to the sea five loggerhead turtles born a year ago on Cargador beach in Alcossebre

• Fundación Azul Marino, Alcalà de Xivert - Alcossebre Town Council and Fundación Oceanogràfic today returned to the sea five loggerhead turtle hatchlings (Caretta caretta) born a year ago on Cargador beach, as part of the ‘Aquí salvamos tortugas’ (Here we save turtles) campaign
• The nest was found on the same beach in September last year, and it was local residents who reported the presence of the hatchlings
• Of the 14 hatchlings found on the beach at the time, six were released directly into the sea and five were taken to the Fundación Azul Marino Conservation Centre in Oropesa del Mar as part of the Oceanogràfic Head Starting programme
• The event was attended by the Mayor of Alcalà-Alcossebre, Francisco Juan, the Councillor for the Environment, Juan Carlos Barceló, together with other councillors, the Projects Director of Fundación Azul Marino, Pablo García, and pupils from CEIP Lo Campanar

Oropesa del Mar (Castellón). Fundación Azul Marino, Alcalà de Xivert - Alcossebre Town Council and Fundación Oceanogràfic this morning released in Alcossebre five loggerhead turtle hatchlings (Caretta caretta) born a year ago on Cargador beach, as part of the ‘Aquí salvamos tortugas’ campaign, an initiative of Fundación Oceanogràfic in which Fundación Azul Marino and the Seville Aquarium collaborate.

The turtles are part of the Oceanogràfic ‘Head-Starting’ programme, which has allowed them to grow in a controlled environment until they have passed the most vulnerable stage of their lives. The release is also part of the hatchling releases that will take place throughout September and October in several towns across the province of Castellón, from nests detected during the last season.

The event was attended by the Mayor of Alcalà-Alcossebre, Francisco Juan; the Councillor for the Environment, Juan Carlos Barceló, together with other town councillors; and Pablo García, Projects Director of Fundación Azul Marino, together with a team of the foundation’s biologists.

The day also brought together pupils from CEIP Lo Campanar in Alcalà de Xivert, the group chosen this year by the town council to take part in the release.

The Mayor of Alcalà-Alcossebre, Francisco Juan, highlighted “what a positive experience it is to host an event like this, especially for the schoolchildren who join us and enjoy a natural science lesson by the sea”.

This release is part of ‘Aquí salvamos tortugas’, the campaign that for six years has travelled along the Mediterranean and Andalusian coast with the support of more than 80 coastal municipalities, the 112 emergency service and several public transport networks, so that tourists, fishermen and residents can recognise an injured turtle, a female laying eggs or a nest, and know how to act if they come across one.

The hatchlings returned to the sea today were born on 3 September 2025 on this same Cargador beach. It was the residents of Alcossebre themselves who reported the hatchlings on the sand. When the conservation team arrived, they found 14 hatchlings, which underwent a full veterinary examination: six were released directly into the sea at the time and three did not survive due to deformities.

The remaining five hatchlings were taken to the Fundación Azul Marino Conservation Centre at Bellver Blue Tech Zone (Oropesa) to continue their development within the Oceanogràfic ‘Head-Starting’ programme. They arrived with an average weight of 14 grams and, a year later, four males and one female returned to the sea today weighing more than 2 kilos on average.

Francisco Juan also stressed “how important it is to know that, when we come across a turtle nest, we must contact the authorities to activate the protection and recovery protocol, which is what happened a year ago and has made it possible for us to return these turtles to their natural habitat today”.

The ‘Head-Starting’ programme

Behind this release is ‘Head-Starting’, a programme developed by Fundación Oceanogràfic, with the collaboration of Fundación Azul Marino from the Oropesa Conservation Centre, which gives some of the turtles born on Valencian beaches the chance to grow up protected until they leave their most fragile stage behind. In the wild, of every thousand turtles born, barely one or two reach adulthood; each turtle that leaves this programme today significantly improves those odds.

The loggerhead turtle, increasingly present on the Valencian coast

In 2025, five loggerhead turtle nesting events were recorded in the province of Castellón, a figure that reflects the growing importance of this coastline for the species. This summer the province has not yet recorded any hatchings, although the nesting season remains open and they are likely to occur until the end of September.

“The loggerhead turtle is a species whose nesting colonies were traditionally concentrated in the eastern Mediterranean, but rising sea temperatures have changed its behaviour patterns and have progressively extended its nesting towards our coasts, where it used to be exceptional”, explained Pablo García.

About Fundación Azul Marino

Fundación Azul Marino is an organisation dedicated to the conservation of marine species and environmental education in the province of Castellón. In collaboration with Fundación Oceanogràfic, it runs the Marine Species Conservation Centre at Bellver Blue Tech Zone, where it cares for and monitors endangered marine wildlife before returning it to the sea.