Work began last week to clean the popular beach at Calis, Fethiye of dangerous rocks and other hidden hazards.

Calis, a suburb of Fethiye, is the location of the town’s largest beach.

Hotels and other tourist developments built near the beach have created a popular holiday resort visited by foreign and Turkish tourists alike.

But for many years visitors and residents have complained that the beach and the shoreline contain too many large stones that can and do cause cuts and bruises to sunbathers and swimmers.

But that is all about to change.

The local Tourism and Promotion Association and the Special Environmental Protection Agency have joined forces in a project to rid the beach of the dangerous stones once and for all.

Last week the project began and a tractor has been busy ploughing the beach unearthing numerous large concrete blocks and stones as shown in the photo above.

Mete Ay, the chair of the Calis Tourism and Promotion Association said:

“Not only will this work to clean the beach make it safer for people using the beach but it would also make it easier for the Loggerhead Turtles to lay their eggs on the beach.”

The project will take place in two phases.

Phase 1 will clean the open beach of large stones and construct new steps down to the beach. That work will be completed by the end of April.

Phase 2 will see further work that will begin in October.

The timings of the works will avoid not only disruption to tourists using the beach in the main holiday season but also to the turtles who visit the beach in the summer months to lay their eggs.