ARCHIVED - Rescued sibling turtles are returned to the sea off the Costa Blanca

A pair of turtles have made a full recovery after being rescued on the Coast Blanca and treated at the Oceanogràfic València Foundation Hospital.

Two young sibling turtles who found themselves in difficulties and had to be rescued before being taken to the Oceanogràfic València Foundation Hospital have been returned to the sea.

After hatching from a nest found in Ibiza during summer 2019, the baby sea turtles - named Marina and Xeresa - were then released into the sea at Playa d'En Bossa, a 2.5km beach in the Balearic Islands; wherever possible young turtles which have hatched in an incubator from eggs laid on the Spanish coastline, are returned to the beach on which the eggs were laid when released in the hope that they themselves will return to lay their own eggs once they reach adulthood.

Only one in a thousand turtle hatchlings which hatch naturally in the wild will reach adulthood and their lives are becoming increasingly perilous as we choke the seas with plastic waste, discarded fishing equipment and race around on jetskis and in boats, all of which can easily, and frequently do, kill turtles.

These little turtles were reared in an aquarium as part of the “headstart programme” the idea being to give young turtles a head start in life by taking them up to around a kilo, which is generally when they’re about one year old, in order to help them bypass the many dangers facing them when they are at their youngest and most vulnerable.

However, even with this assistance, they frequently run into trouble and sadly, a month after being released, fisherman off the coast of Valencia came across one of the young siblings in trouble and rescued it.

And within days, the turtle's injured sister was discovered stranded on the coast of Denia in Marina Baixa Comarca.

In both cases, the 112 Valencian Region's Stranding Network were called in, and the pair were taken to the Oceanogràfic València Foundation Hospital where they were cared for and brought back to peak health.

The hard work of the team, together with colleagues from the Fundación Azul Marino (Blue Marine Foundation) paid off, and the sisters were released on Thursday, May 13.

And to try to learn more about the species to protect them in the future, and track the incredible journeys these tiny turtles undergo, tracking devices were attached to the backs of the turtles by technicians from Valencia Polytechinc University UPV (Universitat Politècnica de València).

The information received will be shared with researchers across Spain as part of a conservation project promoted by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO).

Image: Oceanogràfic de València