Nine Turtles Born on Benidorm Beach Enter the Sea after a Year at the Oceanogràfic Foundation

The Head Starting project ensures that loggerhead turtle hatchlings survive their first year of life in safe conditions before returning to the Mediterranean.

In 2025, twelve loggerhead turtle nests have been located in the Valencian Community, seven of them in the province of Alicante.

Poniente beach in Benidorm was today the scene of the release of nine sea turtles born on this same beach in 2024, which have entered the sea for the first time after a year of controlled rearing at the Oceanogràfic Foundation.

The event, framed within Tourism Week, brought together the mayor of Benidorm, Antonio Pérez Pérez, Marta Calabuig representing the management team of the Oceanogràfic, as well as the Councilor for Beaches, Environment and Sustainability, Mónica Gómez, and the Councilor for Education, Mayte Moreno, along with other members of the municipal corporation.

Also attending were technicians from the Serra Gelada Natural Park, agents of the Local Police, the Lifeguard and Rescue service, volunteers and technical staff of the Oceanogràfic Foundation, as well as more than a hundred schoolchildren from the CEIP La Cala, CEIP El Murtal and CEIP Bautista Lledó centers, residents of the city and beach users.

The specimens that have entered the sea are part of the Head Starting project of the Oceanogràfic Foundation, a conservation strategy that is applied in different parts of the western Mediterranean. It consists of keeping the hatchlings in specialized facilities during the first months of life, where they receive veterinary monitoring, feeding and periodic check-ups. With this method, the turtles reach a size and health status that increases their chances of surviving in the open sea, where the natural mortality of newborns is very high.

The importance of releasing the turtles on their natal beach

The choice of Poniente beach for the release is not accidental, since it is the same area where the turtles were born and the principle of philopatry has been followed, a biological behavior by which adult females return decades later to the same area to nest.

So far in 2025, the Valencian coast has registered twelve loggerhead turtle nests. In Castellón, layings have been located in Almassora, Nules, Alcossebre and Peñíscola; in Valencia, the municipalities of El Puig and Piles have added their first nestings; and Alicante concentrates the highest number, with seven nests distributed between Dénia, Elche, Benidorm and El Campello.

The figure makes 2025 one of the years with the highest number of known nestings in the Valencian Community and confirms the role of the coastline as a key area for the colonization of the species in the western Mediterranean.

Commitment to marine conservation

The loggerhead turtle is included in the Vulnerable category of the IUCN Red List due to the multiple threats it faces, such as the loss of suitable nesting beaches, pollution, accidental capture or the impact of climate change.

In coordination with public administrations, fishermen, environmental technicians and citizens, the Oceanogràfic Foundation develops research, rescue and environmental education programs that reinforce the protection of this emblematic species and social awareness around marine conservation.