Amvrakikos Bay is a semi-enclosed inland ‘sea’ in the northwestern part of Greece. It is made up of salt water entering from the sea, and fresh water and sediments deposited by the Arachthos, Louros, Vovos and Krikeliotis rivers. The Bay has a warm climate, shallow waters, many shallow lagoons, and marshlands. All these conditions favour the development of local flora and fauna, making the Bay one of the most important wetlands of Europe.
Data collected annually through ARCHELON research projects has confirmed a significant presence of sea turtles in the area, especially near the estuaries of the rivers in the northeast part of the Bay. Although no nesting activity has been recorded within the Bay area itself, possible nesting activity on the nearby beaches of western Greece has not yet been explored. Beginning in 2018 and continuing for the next couple of years, ARCHELON is conducting a new conservation project, the “Western Greece Nesting Beach Project”, which will investigate nesting activity on the nearby beaches of Preveza.
|Participation period||Western Greece Nesting Beach Project||Amvrakikos Bay Project|
|15/6- 15/7||15/6- 30/6||30/6- 15/7|
|30/6- 30/7||30/6- 15/7||15/7- 30/7|
|15/7-17/8||15/7- 30/7||30/7- 17/8|
|30/7- 30/8||30/7- 17/8||17/8- 30/8|
Western Greece Nesting Beach Project
During the first part of your participation in the project, you will monitor the potential nesting activity on the beaches of Western Greece on a daily basis. Basic duties include:
Amvrakikos Bay Project
During the second part of your participation in the project, you will collect and record data on captured sea turtles, and then return them to the sea. You will receive training on how to safely and efficiently capture the turtles so that neither they nor you are overly stressed.
During your free time, you can go swimming, snorkeling or explore the area. Other interesting activities are birdwatching in Amvrakikos, or an excursion to the cities of Preveza and Parga.
The fee for accommodation is included in the participation fee.
|Western Greece Nesting Beach Project||Amvrakikos Bay Project|
| The accommodation will be in an organized camp with the following communal facilities:
||The accommodation will be in shared rooms in visitor centre of the Environmental Center of Koprena, with electricity and running water. Some cooking facilities will be provided.|
The project runs from 15th June to 30th of August and participation is subject to the specific requirement stated in the relevant section.
Once approved, the Amvrakikos Project volunteers must pay a fee of €600 pay to ARCHELON. Returning fulltime volunteers are welcome with a reduced fee of €510.
Participation is arranged in the dates shown in the special requirements section. The arrival date to the project site is the same day of taking up duties. The departure day from the project site is the same day of the last day of duties.
Once approved, successful applicants will need to pay their volunteer participation fee depending on the dates of participation, as shown in the Overview Table. From 1/1/2020 fees are applied as shown in the Overview Table of Participation fees as well as the cancellation policy and policy for the change of participation dates. Relevant information can be seen here.
Volunteer participation fees cover the cost of accommodation, administration, training and accident insurance coverage (up to a limit) as well as the annual subscription to ARCHELON.
The participation fee is paid once (in a single payment i.e. no partial payments are accepted) and proof of payment needs to be sent to ARCHELON before the volunteer status is confirmed.
Please note that
In case of an internship, after submitting your on-line application, please inform the Volunteers Officer (firstname.lastname@example.org) of the requirements of the University well in advance and preferably before the end of February 2020. Please also note that no scientific data from this project can be used for any report you may have to write.
My dream always was being able to work with the marine animals, and learn it more on them. When the opportunity to become volunteer for the project "Amvrakikos" of the association ARCHELON tea Sea Turtle protection Society of Greece was given to me it was like a dream which becomes a reality. The project is situated in Amvrakikos bay a protected area where we can find a big concentration of sea turtles. Every day we went on the sea with a boat to catch sea turtles, measure them, tag them and take a tissue sample, to help the scientists establish a census and a follow-up of the sea turtles. All this in the good atmosphere because this project is constituted by a small group of 5 volunteers who live and work together during two weeks what allows to make strong links! But this project is not only the work, it's also a big human experience, people while coming from everywhere in the world with the same passion which lives together hanging two weeks. In the middle of nowhere in a beautiful place with for only neighbor the nature and a taverna. After the day with the sea turtles we can have a drink around fried fishes and speak about our passions, of our experiences and the life generally in front of the bay. This experience is and will stay one of the best of my life, I learned so much about my passion and it's give to me to meet new people and new wonderful friends! And he (it) is on that I would return to it one day.
Andréa Briançon, France