Court finds Greece late to protect sea turtle habitat
Date: 01-Feb-02
Country: LUXEMBOURG
Greece violated European legislation designed to protect the bio-diversity of wild fauna and flora by not enacting a program to protect the breeding grounds of the Caretta caretta sea turtle, the court said.
Member states were to comply with the bio-diversity directive no later than June, 1994.
In 1998, non-governmental organisations alerted the European Commission that the habitat area at Zakinthos was deteriorating and a site visit was made. The Commission found there was no enforcement protection and no notices on the beaches; there were pedalos and boats in the sea area where their use is prohibited; there were a significant number of beach umbrellas and deck-chairs on various beaches that should have been vacated and there were illegal buildings and recent construction on the beach at Dafni.
By March, 1999 the Greek authorities notified the Commission that a draft presidential decree on the creation of a marine park at Zakinthos had been submitted to the Greek Council of State for finalisation and that a committee had been formed to draft legislation to protect Greece's natural regions.
The Commission decided Greece had not effectively established a protection program for the turtles and sent a reasoned opinion asking for compliance no later than August, 1999, more than five years since the original legislation should have been implemented.
The Commission made a second inspection to the principal beaches used for breeding by the sea turtle Caretta caretta in August 1999, and found some progress had been made to enforce the conservation policies, but not enough.
There were still pedalos and small boats in Sea Area A at Gerakas and Dafni and Sea Area B at Kalamaki; there were beach umbrellas and deck-chairs on various beaches (Gerakas, Dafni, Kalamaki, Laganas) in numbers clearly exceeding the number permitted by the draft presidential decree on the creation of the marine park of Zakinthos; the number of illegal buildings on the beach at Dafni had increased; mopeds were being driven on the sand beach to the east of Laganas; and supervisory measures on certain beaches were inadequate.
Despite further assurances from Greek authorities that initiatives were underway, the Commission brought legal action to force compliance with the bio-diversity legislation.
According to the court's judgment, the Caretta caretta turtle lays eggs every two or three years. In Greece, the laying season starts at the end of May and finishes at the end of August. The turtle leaves the sea at night and moves towards the driest area of the beach, where it digs a hole of 40 to 60 centimetres in which it lays an average of 120 eggs. Two months later the eggs hatch and the baby turtles crawl onto the sand and head towards the sea. The baby turtles are very vulnerable and a large number of them die.
The Commission argued that the bay of Laganas on Zakinthos is a vital breeding region, perhaps even the most important in the Mediterranean for this turtle and the Greeks have slated this site to be included in the Natura 2000 network.
The court said Greece was late to protect the turtle and therefore failed to fulfil its member state obligations under the EU rules which require that listed species not be disturbed, particularly during the period of breeding, rearing, hibernation and migration, and the deterioration or destruction of their breeding sites or resting places is prohibited.
The court noted that in December 1999, two months after the deadline issue by the Commission in its reasoned opinion, Greece issued a presidential decree classifying the land and sea regions of the bay of Laganas and the Strofada islands as a national marine park and the costal areas of the communes of Zakinthos and Laganas as a regional park.
The court strictly applies deadlines set by the European Commission in reasoned opinions issued to member states.
**** In Case C-103/00, Commission of the European Communities v Hellenic Republic T