Visitors to the Cap Blanc aquarium in Sant Antoni have been watching a group of around 20 young loggerhead turtles that are about to be released into the Mediterranean. The turtles hatched from eggs laid on Es Cavallet beach last summer and have spent almost a year being raised in safety.
A nest on Es Cavallet
On 7 August 2025, a loggerhead nest with 85 eggs was found on Es Cavallet, inside the Ses Salines Natural Park. Because the beach is busy and the nest was at risk, the eggs were moved to Mallorca for incubation in a protected facility.
About two months later, 38 healthy hatchlings emerged.
The laboratory stage
The hatchlings were taken to the marine research and aquaculture laboratory in Port d’Andratx. There, specialists from the marine fauna department of the Balearic wildlife recovery consortium tagged each turtle, recorded its size and weight and checked its health.
The strongest were selected for the next phase.
Head starting
The chosen turtles entered a “head-starting” programme, which raises them in tanks for 10 to 12 months. During that time they receive a diet similar to what they would find at sea and grow considerably larger than they would in the wild at the same age, which greatly improves their chances of avoiding predators once released.
A vulnerable species
The loggerhead (Caretta caretta) is classified as vulnerable. A female can lay up to around 100 eggs in a nest, but only a tiny fraction of hatchlings survive to adulthood. Their threats include predators, plastic and other pollution, accidental capture in fishing gear and the loss of nesting beaches.
Nesting further west
Anna Torres, the Balearic government’s director general for the natural environment, said climate change may be encouraging loggerheads to nest further west in the Mediterranean. Over the past decade, nests have appeared almost every year on Spanish beaches, something that used to be rare.
The release
At Cap Blanc, the young turtles have been seen swimming towards the channel of the cave that leads to the open sea. This week they will be released into the Mediterranean.
How to help
If you see a turtle nesting or tracks on a beach, keep your distance and call 112 so that experts can protect the nest. Reducing plastic use and taking part in beach clean-ups also make a difference.
