Zakynthos Marine Park

Zakynthos Marine National Park was established in 1999 in the south of the island of Zakynthos, in the Ionian Sea, and protects some 135 km² of sea, coast and wetlands around Laganas Bay. It was the first protected area in the Mediterranean created specifically to conserve marine turtles.

The bay's beaches are the main laying area for the loggerhead turtle in the whole Mediterranean: each season between nine hundred and two thousand nests are recorded, around 80% of the Mediterranean total for the species. The females come ashore at night to lay in the sand between May and August, and the hatchlings emerge weeks later and orient themselves towards the sea by the reflection of light on the water, a mechanism that the artificial lighting of coastal businesses easily disrupts.

That coincidence between the best laying beaches and the heart of Zakynthos's beach tourism has made this park one of the most contentious management cases in the Mediterranean: the restrictions on parasols, lights, boat traffic and beach access hours have generated continuous tension with the tourist sector, and Greece has been brought before the Court of Justice of the European Union for failures in protecting the area. The park is also home to the Mediterranean monk seal and protects the Keri wetlands and the Strofades islands.