For thousands of years, however, sufficient numbers of hatchlings reached the sea and survived to keep a stable population. In view of the turtles' demise active conservation measures were initiated in Cyprus with the Lara Turtle Conservation Project. At the Lara station nests are collected and transferred to the hatchery, which is a fenced off part of the beach, where they are reburied and protected from foxes. The eggs are buried at the right depth as sex determination in turtles is dependent on the incubation temperature. Incubation at 29-30 degrees C results in half the hatchlings being male and the other half female.
Low temperatures result in male hatchlings.
Higher temperatures than normal produce females. Turtle nests can now be identified, almost with certainty as those of the Green or Loggerhead turtles and Fisheries Department staff have become familiar with turtle breeding behaviour and reactions. At several of the Lara beaches all nests that can be protected in situ, by cages, are left undisturbed where they were made by the turtles, i.e. they are not transferred to the hatchery. At the beginning of the Lara Turtle Project there was an estimated breeding population of about 100 Green turtles breeding in the Lara-Toxeftra area mainly. The Loggerhead population is apparently somewhat larger and nests on other beaches also, in Chrysochou Bay in particular.