30/07/2026
Important information about nesting turtles and how the public should respect them …
Following the posts about the Balluta Bay turtle, we would like to clarify certain issues.
Yes, the turtle was looking for a beach to nest. However, all she found was a wall of people in her face, talking loudly and with their phones' flash on, which spooked her enough to turn around and go back in the sea.
She also tried the Exiles patch of sand, as evidenced by the tracks we found there. From the timings, she probably tried Exiles before trying Balluta.
Would she have managed to nest at Balluta given the chance?
We cannot answer that definitively, but the sand conditions are not ideal for nesting, and it gets flooded very easily, making it an unsafe spot.
This year's nesting season has been particularly weird.
We have had 10 occasions where turtles emerged from the sea to nest, but none have been successful yet.
We started off the season with Armier, where the turtle turned back after she couldn't crawl up the beach due to sunbeds blocking her way.
Then we had 4 separate nights in Gozo where turtles crawled up, and even though conditions were perfect, they still did not nest.
A very confused turtle then was trying to crawl up the rocky shore in Qawra, obviously with no success.
Last week, early on Friday, we then had a turtle that tried to nest in Mscala with no success, and tried again on Saturday early morning at Marsaxlokk, again unsuccessfully.
On Sunday we then had the 2 attempts in Sliema/St Julians.
We don't know what is causing this confusion in our nesting turtles, all we know is they are showing unusual behaviour. Apart from Gozo, the rest of the attempts were in non-nesting beaches, whereas the usual nesting beaches have remained with zero nesting activity.
All we can do is to continue our patrols till the end of the nesting season, and to ask the public to follow very simple rules if they encounter a nesting turtle:
1. Stay 10m away, from her backside. DO NOT go in front of her face.
2. No flash
3. No loud noises
4. No touching
5. Call our Emergency Line immediately, +356 9999 9505 or the ERA - Environment & Resources Authority On Call number +356 2292 3500.
A nesting turtle is NOT an occassion for selfies, Tik Tok or Instagram.
Please respect them and give them a peaceful space.