Facts

According to Medasset’s 2005 annual report to the European Committee except for the nesting beach of Sekania, which was bought by WWF in 1994, in all the other nesting beaches (East Laganas, Kalamaki, Daphne and Gerakas) the situation was getting worse and worse.

The number of umbrellas, sunbeds and pedal boats exceeded the number (even double in some cases) permitted by law on all beaches. Beach traffic, rubbish and debris was the case for Laganas and Kalamaki, while in the strictly protected beach of Daphne illegal buildings (bars, rooms to let, tavernas) were operating until late at night.

The President of Medasset, Mrs Lilly Venizelou says that the situation last summer was totally catastrophic.

“We have worked hard all these years to preserve the turtle’s environment but the state failed to apply the laws.”

Until last summer the management body of Zakynthos was under crisis because of lack of funding.

Mrs Karagouni-Kyrtsou explains the prevailing conditions when she was appointed as the President of the Marine Park in July 2005? :

“All of the nesting beaches were left adrift to the tourists, the park had no guards and no workers because of lack of money. I found some offices and nothing else, even though there was the infrastructure from the start of the Park’s establishment.”

From the start, Mrs Karagouni-Kyrtsoy focused on the solution of the existing problems.

“During the summer I made some spasmodic movements since I had no workers. Until the end of August there were only nine guards at the nesting beaches, while the workers came back at the end of last August.

But from September she thinks that a great progress has been made:
“From March we started to process the operational plans in the nesting beaches and as a result we employee 40 guards, who are responsible to control the access to all the nesting beaches. We have also tourist guides and we built a successful network of cooperation with the citizens, the owners of the buildings and the bussinesmen of the area.”

Mrs Venizelou gives credit to her for her outstanding work but she is extremely concerned and suspicious on the Park’s “secret works” on Daphne beach, where the Park has started improvement constructions.

“The whole thing looks much more proffessional now, there are a lot that have been done, but that doesn’t mean that we should destroy the rest of the beaches because the government cannot implement the EC rulings.