Protection of Marine Life area.

The coastal region of Lara-Toxeftra which is located in the South-western side of the Akamas Peninsula, in an area of 650 ha (100 ha of land and 550 ha sea) has been declared in 1990, under the Forest Protection Law 8/90 into a Marine and Coastal Reserve.

This aims at safeguarding the protection of Marine Turtles (Chelonia mydas and Caretta caretta) that give birth and hatch their eggs in the sandy beach. The regulations regarding this region prohibit camping, use of umbrellas and sun beds, the presence of people in the region in the evenings, the use of cars on the beach, the entry and mooring of boats in the gulf and fishing, except with fishing rods. The Department of Fishery and Marine Research from 1st June up to the 30th September, each year installs a station for the control and protection of the nests and hatching of young turtles.It should be noted that 1 out of 4 thousand baby turtles survive in to adolescence stages.

During their lifetime they will be exposed to many dangers. They make their nests by digging holes into the sandy beaches, about 30-60 cm deep. Caretta caretta. Each year 6,000-8,000 young turtles are released into the sea. Unlike other sea turtles, courtship and mating usually do not take place near the nesting beach, but rather along the migration routes between feeding and breeding grounds. In Cyprus, Caretta carettas mate from late March to early June.

The female nesting season is at its peak in June and July, but this depends on the nesting beach. The clutch may vary from 100 to 126 eggs. Each egg is roughly the size and shape of a golf ball. The average interval between nesting seasons is two to three years. Chelonia mydas. As one of the oldest sea turtle species studied, much of what is known of sea turtle ecology was gleaned from studies of green turtles. The ecology of Chelonia mydas changes drastically with each succeeding stage of its life history. For instance, newly-emerged hatchlings are carnivorous, pelagic organisms part of the open ocean mini-nekton. In contrast, immature juveniles and adult turtles are commonly found in seagrass meadows closer inshore as herbivorous grazers. Chelonia mydas clutches range between 100 to 200 eggs. Mating. Female turtles control mating; males cannot force females to mate.

After mating in the water, the females haul themselves onto the beach above the high tide line. Upon reaching a suitable nesting site, the female then digs a hole with her hind flippers and deposits a number of eggs in the nest. After laying eggs, the female then covers the nest with sand and returns to the sea. After around 45 to 75 days, the eggs hatch. As with other marine turtles, Chelonia mydas eggs hatch during the night and the newly-emerged turtles instinctively head directly towards the water's edge. This undoubtedly is the most dangerous time in a turtle's life, as the hatchlings make their way to the water, various predators such as gulls and crabs pick off many turtles.

Just like other sea turtles, little is known of the early life history of newly-hatched green turtles. After this trek to the ocean juvenile green turtles spend from three to five years in the open ocean as carnivores before they settle as immature juveniles into a more herbivorous, shallow-water lifestyle. It is speculated that they take twenty to fifty years to reach mature size. Individuals of the species are known to live up to eighty years in the wild.