Beachgoers in Greece urged to snitch on firms that break sunbed rules

Greece is planning to use artificial intelligence and satellite imagery to target nuisance sun lounges on beaches - while also urging the public to inform on rental firms that break the rules.

With the tourist season approaching, the country’s government is to start monitoring the position of sunbeds, umbrellas and chairs on its pristine coastlines.

It comes after a law introducing stricter rules was passed on Wednesday amid growing concerns over overcrowding and the illegal use of public space on beaches.

The new system, which will be tested in early June, will monitor almost 8,000 beaches across Greece where businesses have been granted licences to use public sands.

The government hopes the new measures will also help it in the tendering of beaches to private companies, while protecting public access to free beaches.

Concessions to operate sun lounger businesses, and build constructions, have been banned on 198 beaches in Greece, both on the mainland and on the country’s islands. These include beaches in Mani, Karpathos, Syros, Lesvos and Milos.

In other protected areas, the law states that 85 per cent of beach space cannot now be occupied by sunbeds.

It also prescribes a minimum distance of four metres between sunbeds and the shoreline, to facilitate access to the sea for holidaymakers.

Beaches are public in the country, but in recent years residents have become increasingly irked by the growing number of businesses which have been granted licences to rent out sun loungers and umbrellas.

Higher global temperatures causing Caretta turtles to lay eggs sooner

The discovery of a Caretta caretta nest on May 10 in Lagana Bay, on the island of Zakynthos, has confirmed predictions that climate change will bring the turtles' nesting season forward, starting it earlier in the spring, the sea turtle protection society Archelon said in an announcement on Thursday.

According to Archelon, this is the first time in 40 years of monitoring the turtles on Zakynthos, the Peloponnese and Crete, starting in 1984, that a nest has been found so early in the season.

Greece’s Oldest Woman Dies at 119

Greece’s oldest woman, Irene Baroulaki, passed away at the ripe age of 119 on the evening of Tuesday (June 15, 2024).

The centenarian from Crete had spent her entire life in the small village of Paidochori, located in the municipality of Apokoronas in the Chania regional unit, northwest Crete.

The municipality of Apokoronas issued a statement on her passing, emphasizing the values she embodied and passed down to her children, who stood by her side until her last moments.