Thousands of sea turtles, whales, and other marine mammals, and more than 1 million seabirds die each year from ocean pollution and ingestion or entanglement in marine debris. In addition, the increasing anthropogenic activity linked to tourism, coastal urbanization and fishing, represents a threat to sea turtles and their reproductive sites on coasts. Thus, it is important to attract the interest of people in respect of the marine environment and the protection of turtles.

TartAmare is an organisation of volunteers working to protect Sea Turtles throughout Tuscany. TEF awarded their project to support their vital work of monitoring the Tuscan coastline for signs of Turtle nesting sites occurring in summer, with TEF funds going towards the acquisition of equipment including data-loggers, nightscopes, a GoPro and E-Fatbike, to allow more efficient and faster operations.

Meanwhile, the TartAmare team will also work on the rescue and care of injured individuals and the dissemination of information on marine biodiversity and its conservation through widespread environmental education campaigns. A second tranche of payment will arrive later on to support this important education work of Tartamare, expanding their learning centre and providing materials for the increasing number of volunteers and students who come to Marina di Grosseto to help.