Team led by biologist protecting Caretta Carettas in Turkey's Antalya

Photos: AA

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Fatih Bolat, 31, a biologist, has been protecting loggerhead sea turtles, also known as Caretta caretta, on the shores of the Mediterranean province of Antalya for 12 years.

He had volunteered in Belek for 10 years as part of a project led by the Ecological Research Association (EKAD) and has been working in Manavgat over the past two years.

Staying at a camp on the Kızılot beach, Polat and his colleagues wake up at 4 a.m. every day to detect the locations of Caretta caretta nests by following the turtles' tracks along the 26-kilometer long beach.

They also rescue the turtles stuck in nests. Polat said they have recorded 528 nests so far. They mark them using GPRS, he added. (TY/VK)