Two juvenile turtles called Nadia and Maria have been released back into the wild earlier this morning after almost 2 months of treatment at the Wildlife Rehab Centre project.
The Wildlife Rehab Centre Project is operated by Nature Trust Malta – FEE, with the financial support of the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), which sponsors the rehabilitation of injured wildlife. ERA also works closely with the eNGO on several other environmental initiatives.
The turtle named Nadia was rescued on the 4th August 2023 when she was found floating on the surface with a hook in its mouth, while the turtle named Maria was rescued on 20th August 2023 after ingesting lots of plastics – she also had several old scars from past injuries.
NTM President CEO Vince Attard once again appealed to the public to keep beaches clean and plastic free. Attard said that
“Plastic pollution is on the increase and is badly effecting us and marine life. Disposing of Waste in the appropriate bins even on land is of utmost importance and crucial to reduce plastic waste at sea.”
ERA CEO, Kevin Mercieca, said that the Authority is developing policies intended to reduce as much plastic waste as possible through updated legislation – namely the ban on the importation and sale of SUPs on the local market and a number of other measures covered under the Single Use Plastic Strategy for Malta 2020-2030.
“This also goes hand in hand with other waste related initiatives intended to reduce waste in general, such as the mandatory waste separation regulations introduced in April. All these policy initiatives help reduce the amounts of waste plastic ending up in the sea putting the life of marine biodiversity at risk”.
Fines for incorrect Waste separation come into force on the 15th of October 2023.
For more information, visit era.org.mt and naturetrustmalta.org
10 October 2023
