A private party held at the protected Toxeftra beach in Peyia on Saturday was prohibited only after it had already gone ahead, NGO Terra Cypria said on Monday.

Local authorities gave permission for the event to go ahead, while the environment and the fisheries departments prohibited it on Sunday, Terra Cypria said.

The NGO said had informed the two departments about Saturday’s event on Thursday, but did not receive a response until they issued a statement on Sunday saying they did not approve of the event, its environmental officer Klitos Papastylianou told the Cyprus Mail.

He said Saturday’s event concerned a private party held in the Ayios Georgios area, the location of which fell within both the special protected area and the protected beach.

“The event took place and it was licensed by the Akamas municipality,” Papastylianou said.

He said the area is of importance not only to the sea turtles, which nest there, but also monk seals, which use it as a feeding and resting place, as well several water and sea birds.

On this coming weekend, a carob festival is scheduled to be held in the same area on Friday, which has also seen Terra Cypria voicing equal concerns.

The carob festival was not organised in the exact location in the past, it will now be held on newly built premises of a restaurant including a stage, Papastylianou said.

While parts of the restaurant were built outside of the protected area, the other parts, including the terrace, fall within it so the festival poses another risk of light and noise pollution to the sensitive habitats, he explained.

“According to the habitats directive, this activity poses a significant threat to the strictly protected species in the area.”

The party in full swing at Toxeftra

He added that, within the area, even the slightest relocation could affect the extent to which species are impacted. “Having a stage located 90m instead of 100m from the beach makes a difference,” he said.

The environmental and fisheries departments confirmed they had received a letter from Terra Cypria on Thursday and initiated an on-site inspection of the area the following day.

“[Following the on-site inspection] a relevant letter was sent on 22.8 to the municipality of Akamas to terminate the works and examine the legality of the construction and operation of the said platform,” a joint statement said.

The municipality of Akamas, which is responsible for granting permits for the events held in the area, did not respond to the letter, the departments said.

The departments emphasised that, due to its proximity to the strictly protected beach of Toxeftra, a nesting area for the protected green turtle, the intense lighting could have had serious impacts on nesting, including the disorientation of the small turtles on their way to the sea.

“Since [the municipality of Akamas] did not intend to exercise its statutory authority to immediately cancel the event, it was ordered that measures to reduce light pollution in the protected areas need to be taken,” the departments said.

Therefore, the municipality was instructed to install protective covers on the platform with the aim of limiting and significantly reducing the diffusion of light towards the sea.

These were later inspected by an officer of the fisheries department who “found that the lighting was not intense, and therefore the measures taken appeared to limit the reflection and diffusion of light towards the sea and Toxeftra,” the departments said.

During his inspection at 10:15pm on the day of the event, a fisheries department officer reportedly took relevant pictures at the site. Shortly after, at 11pm, pictures of the event were shared by Terra Cypria, following which the officer returned to the area to carry out another check.

The government departments added that the day after the party, on Sunday, the fisheries department conducted another check on the protected sea turtles in the area and found that no problem had arisen with the nests. 

“It is emphasised that this does not set a precedent nor does it affect the next steps that will be taken,” the departments said, adding that any events near and within protected areas must follow the appropriate procedures and legislation in a timely manner.

“The Toxeftra area is a valuable habitat for the green turtle, but also a living monument to the biodiversity of the Mediterranean. Ensuring its protection (…) is a top priority, within the framework of both our national obligations and our European and international commitments for the protection of nature, and this must be respected by everyone,” the departments concluded.