Environment - Ecology on Zakynthos

The beaches of Zakynthos are hosting the last and most important concentration of Loggerhead "Caretta caretta" nesting sites in the Mediterranean.

Every year, beginning from June through the end of August, the female Loggerheads come ashore at night to lay their eggs in the sand and then afterwards cover the nest. After 55 days, the hatchlings start to dig their way out of the nest to find their way down to the sea. Survival rate is very low, only very few hatchlings (1 or 2 out of 1000) will have a chance to adulthood. Thus, it's very important to protect the nests

The organisation STPS - Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece - sends their scouts every summer to protect them, 24 hours a day. If you want to know more about the Loggerheads, please jump to the STPS-Website.

The sea around the island is very clear,

but because of overfishing (as is true of everywhere in the Mediterranean), there is not very much fish anymore. The best way to get real, fresh fish is to go to one of the ports and buy them directly from the fishermen.
Zakynthos has plenty of drinking water, because in the wintertime it rains a lot here, and the many forests can hold it (level of groundwater) for over a year.
The island also is very fertile, including the classical products - olives and wine - the agri-production offers everything, from grain to all kind of fruits. But the quantity is not enough for the summer season, so Zakynthos has to import.
In recent years, the farmers have started ecological farming.

Waste and waste-water is a big problem all over the world. .

Zakynthos has tackled the major problems: extension of the sewage system in connection with the biological sewage plants; tightening up permission conditions for running hotels. (Permission is granted only if the hotel has its own biological sewage plant); completion of a modern, watertight dump; and collecting and cleaning the outrunning waste-water.
Of course, there's a lot to do also in the future, but in the last several years, Zakynthos has made giant strides forwards.