The Cyprus Federation of Environmental Organisations (Opok) has expressed strong concern over fresh violations at the protected Lara area of the Akamas peninsula, calling on the relevant authorities to enforce the law immediately and strictly, and to carry out meaningful, continuous checks throughout the sea turtles' breeding and nesting season.
According to a statement from Opok, beachgoers placed umbrellas and tents on Lara beach despite restrictions that apply in the area during the sea turtles' nesting and hatching period.
It is a reminder that from 1 June to 30 September each year, the placement of umbrellas, sunbeds, tents, caravans, or similar temporary structures is banned in the protected Lara-Toxeftra area, among other restrictions. Remaining on the beach at night, from one hour before sunset, is also prohibited, as is fishing by any method other than rod fishing from the shore.
Questions over surveillance
Opok said that the images and information now circulating raise questions over the adequacy of surveillance in the area, pointing specifically to concerns about how often and how effectively checks are carried out, and about how violations are handled once identified.
Among other things, the federation questioned how the regulations came to be breached despite earlier patrols, how frequent and effective the checks actually are, and what measures are taken when violations are detected. It also asked whether the penalties provided for under the law are actually applied, or whether protection is limited to warnings and awareness campaigns.
"An important breeding habitat"
According to Opok, Lara is one of the most important breeding habitats for the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in Cyprus and the wider Mediterranean. The Lara-Toxeftra area has been protected since 1989 under the Fisheries Law and its associated regulations, is included in the EU's Natura 2000 network, and has been listed since 2013 as a Specially Protected Area of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI).
Opok stressed that protecting the area "is not an optional policy choice" and cannot depend on the goodwill of visitors or be limited to the presence of information signs.
Opok's demands
The federation is calling on the government, the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, the Department of Environment, the House Environment Committee, the Commissioner for the Environment and Animal Welfare, and every other relevant authority to take immediate, substantive action and carry out effective checks.
Specifically, it is demanding an immediate and full investigation into all reported violations in the area, the immediate removal of any installation or activity not provided for or permitted under the law, strict enforcement of all protective measures, accountability where failures or shortcomings in surveillance are identified, continuous and effective monitoring of the area, particularly during the turtles' breeding and nesting season, a stronger presence of relevant officers so that enforcement does not depend solely on complaints from members of the public, and full disclosure to the public of the checks carried out, the violations identified, and the measures taken.
Opok argued that the state cannot introduce protective regulations and designate an area as protected while at the same time being unable to prevent or effectively address practices that degrade it. "This is not meaningful protection," the federation said.
The federation further warned that tolerating violations sets, in its words, "an extremely dangerous precedent," not only for Lara and Akamas but for all of Cyprus's protected areas.
It concluded by calling on the state to enforce the law "with the same strictness towards everyone, without exceptions and without concessions to environmental protection," arguing that when lawbreaking is tolerated in a protected area, the issue becomes one of the credibility of environmental policy and the rule of law itself.
"Lara must be protected, and its protective measures must be applied in practice, not remain only on paper," Opok concluded.
