KARACHI, Dec 14: As winter begins to set in, green turtles, which come to Karachi’s Hawkesbay and Sandspit beaches to lay their eggs, are now beginning to return to the ocean.
Though green turtles lay eggs throughout the year, peak season is between August and December, ending when it becomes too cold.
The green turtle population has been declining, as poachers have been killing more and more turtles to feed the demand for their eggs and meat.
Green turtle eggs are considered to be more nutritious, and soup and meat obtained from the turtles are delicacies in the Far East. Poachers have now reduced the numbers of green turtles to the point where the Sindh government has declared the species protected under the Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance.
Many turtles have also drowned after being entangled in fishing nets. To counter this, the government introduced a law prescribing fishing nets to have devices which enable the turtles to not be caught in them. This law is seldom implemented, however.
Low survival ratio
Green turtles lay around 100 eggs per clutch, and come to the beach three times during a single season. They usually leave a gap of five years before they lay their eggs again, always at the same beach. Despite the fact that they lay so many eggs, however, not many baby turtles survive to adulthood. The survival ratio at present is about one in every 1,000 eggs.
Mother turtles, usually weighing between two and four hundred pounds, come to the beach at night.
They will drag themselves above the high-tide mark, dig two pits, lay their eggs, cover the pits and drag themselves back to the sea, a process which takes anywhere from four to six hours.
As soon as the mother returns to the water, however, predators, in the form of poachers or stray dogs, tend to appear and destroy many of the eggs. Even after hatching, the hatchlings, often weighing no more than a few ounces, face an arduous journey to the water. On the way, they are often consumed by scavenging birds or crabs. Once in the sea, armed with only a soft shell, they are at the mercy of several different types of marine creatures.
If the hatchling survives past the first year, often referred to as the ‘lost year’, threats tend to decline, as their shell hardens. Females will then return to the same beach where they were hatched after a period of 12-15 years.
Keeping in view the many threats to the turtle population, the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD) launched a marine turtle conservation project in the late 1970s. SWD staffers collected the eggs from the nest, and then re-buried them in protected enclosures. The hatchlings which were born were then released into the sea.
2.2 million eggs collected
Dr Fahmida Firdous, the SWD’s turtle expert, told Dawn that over 2.2 million eggs have been collected so far, and over 700,000 hatchlings released into the sea. Moreover, over 7,000 turtles that have come to the beach to lay eggs have been tagged, and over 750 of these are now regular visitors (some have visited up to eight times).
Dr Firdous says that the turtles usually live in the vicinity of the beach where they were born, and rarely travel long distances. She added that only a few of the SWD-tagged turtles have been spotted – one was sighted near the west of Iran, another near the Indian coast of Gujarat, while a third was seen far south of Karachi, near Eritrea off the African coast.
She said that poachers consistently target turtles, because so many of their body parts are in demand. She pointed out that the skin is used to make shoes and handbags, the shell to make decorative articles and the soup and meat are delicacies in certain countries. She added that this has forced the SWD to make every effort to protect the turtles.
Responding to Dawn’s queries, SWD turtle officer Adnan Hamid said that SWD staff patrol the Sandspit and Hawkesbay beaches to ensure that turtles are not disturbed while they lay their eggs. Mother turtles are also tagged by the SWD, in order to keep track of them.
After the eggs are laid, Hamid said staff members collect them and deposit them in protected enclosures, where pits similar to the turtle pits have been dug. They are then released into the sea, and will return to the very same beach they were born at to lay their own eggs, over a decade later.
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