La tortuga careta a la badia de Roses, 2005-2014

The loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta, Linnaeus 1758), is a marine turtle that travels long distances throughout its life and frequents the sea of Catalonia and the Alt Empordà waters only occasionally, although some can remain in the shallow waters of the Bay of Roses for some time. In this article we present an up-date of what is known about the loggerhead turtle’s biology, mainly for the Mediterranean. We also offer data of its exceptionally increased presence in Catalonia in recent years, in order to explain the turtle's current status in Catalonia and the Bay of Roses. In addition, we offer a series of citations of observations of the loggerhead turtle on the beaches and waters of said Bay of Roses. For this purpose, we have gathered data from the last ten years, of sightings of turtles on the beaches between l'Escala and Roses as well as of their relatively abundant presence in the open waters of the Bay in the area between Norfeu Cape and a north-south line that runs from here to Point Montgó, through interviews with fishermen from the Roses and l'Escala harbours.