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From 19 June to 5 July 1995, a team of six scientists undertook the first scientific survey of the eastern Libyan coast in order to assess possible nesting sites for sea turtles. The research team came up with some astonishing figures. More than 9,000 loggerhead (Caretta caretta) nests were estimated along 1250 km of coast, meaning that Libya is host to the largest nesting colony of loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean! Equally exciting was the discovery of previously unknown nesting grounds near the Egyptian border [see MTN 71:9-10]. Libya's nesting sea turtles are still thriving because the coast has not as yet been developed for tourism. Beaches are "off-limits", even to local people, and soldiers patrol the coast to enforce the rules. The 1995 survey was co-ordinated by the UNEP/MAP Regional Centre for Specially Protected Areas, located in Tunis, co-funded by the Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles (MEDASSET), and supported by Libya's Technical Centre for Environment Protection (TCEP), the Libyan Marine Research Centre (MRC), and WWF's Mediterranean Programme. When the survey data have been fully assessed, a more detailed account will be prepared for readers of the Marine Turtle Newsletter.

LILY VENIZELOS, MEDASSET, 24 Park Towers, 2 Brick Street, London W1Y 7DF, U.K.