Winter was close to perfect, and it was just before sunset when we arrived on the beach to film our documentary on giant sea turtles.

We had just received news of the baby turtles starting to hatch in the protected hatcheries on the Karachi coast, and we could not have been more excited to witness the green turtle hatchlings being released for their forever home. Letting these tiny reptiles crawl out of your own hands, to be gracefully embraced by the calm waves, is a sublime experience that must not be missed.

Filming the hatchlings, be they on sand or under water, was the relatively convenient part of our entire adventure. But waiting for the female turtles — who come to lay their eggs — in the pitch dark of the cold night, was quite a challenge, especially as it had rained a night before, and the chances of female turtles coming out on the wet sand were minimal — they cannot dig holes in the wet sand.

We waited till 10pm one night, and till midnight another time, but the mother turtles had other plans. After testing our patience for a few nights, however, one decided to bravely emerge out of the sea.

It takes a female turtle up to two hours, from the time that she emerges out of the water, to find a favourable dry spot to dig a ditch in the sand and, finally, to approve of the hole she has dug to lay her eggs.

The Sindh Wildlife Department has been at the forefront of giant green turtle research and conservation for decades. A pair of wildlife filmmakers discover its achievements during the ‘Turtle Season’ in Karachi

Her constant back and forth digging with her flippers is a persistent and arduous effort. Once the eggs are laid, the same steps are repeated to cover the ditch, before the mother crawls back, exhausted, to the sea.

The giant green turtles or chelonia mydas found on the 7km stretch along the Hawke’s Bay and Sandspit beaches in Karachi (where the females arrive to lay eggs) are among the largest marine turtles, and the only herbivores among the various turtle species.

They can live up to 70 years or more, and are found in the subtropical and temperate regions of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. Interestingly, they are called green turtles because of the green colour of their fat.

An adult turtle weighs between 110 kg to 190 kg, with their carapaces (shells) between three feet to four feet in length. A female turtle matures at 25 to 35 years of age, nesting between 3 to 5 times per season and at an interval of every two years. It comes out of the sea at least 10 to 15 times in its entire lifetime just to lay eggs and lays an average of 110 eggs per clutch, having an incubation period of 40 to 60 days.

The temperature of the developing turtle eggs is what decides whether the offspring will be male or female. If the temperature of the sand during incubation is above 27°C, the hatchling will be female, as opposed to a male hatchling if the temperature is below that.

“The Marine Turtle Conservation Unit, managed by the Sindh Wildlife Department has been operational since 1980, and to date, it has protected and released over 850,000 turtle hatchlings,” says Ashfaq Ali Memon, Wildlife Officer Incharge of the Marine Turtle Unit at Hawke’s Bay in Karachi.

During lockdowns, because of the restricted movement of visitors on the beaches, more turtles returned. So, from 327 turtles seen in 2019, the number jumped to 362 in 2020, according to the Sindh Wildlife Department.

“This season [since September], we have sighted 308 female turtles so far, out of which 24 have been tagged,” says Memon. “Meanwhile, we have released 3,200 hatchlings from our enclosures in the Sandspit and Hawke’s Bay vicinity so far.”

This conservational project was the brainchild of renowned marine biologist Dr Fehmida Firdous, and has come a long way, thanks to her selfless devotion. The ‘Turtle Lady of Pakistan’, is also the first Pakistani to hold a PhD in Marine Turtles, and was awarded the ‘Pride of Performance’ in 2007.

Once the eggs have been laid, the conservation team digs them out to bury them in their hatchery under marked, three-feet-deep nests, for secure incubation. The hatcheries are protected by wire meshes to keep predators away.

“Our aim for the next season is to nest 50,000 to 60,000 eggs for hatching and consequent habitat restoration as well,” says Memon. “We also hope to expand our team.”

This season, Memon was overjoyed to see a tagged turtle return in a month’s time to Hawke’s Bay to lay more eggs. Sandspit and Hawke’s Bay are among the 11 famous soft sand beaches in the world preferred by the giant turtles as nesting sites.

The turtle nesting beaches are patrolled by guards post-sunset to document the arrival of female turtles, and ensure the protection of their eggs against predators, especially snakes, crows and stray dogs. There is also a parallel programme being run to vaccinate and neuter as many dogs as possible.

While bright lights, picnickers blaring music, and driving cars on the beach at night discourage turtle activity, these endangered reptiles can also fall prey to fishing gillnets, or become a by-catch in the sea, or worse, get poached and sold despite their critical need for saltwater.

“Whenever, our rescue team is apprised about poached birds and animals, immediate action is taken, with the captive animals secured and later released in their natural habitat, while the culprits are penalised,” says Naeem Muhammad Khan, Inspector Wildlife. He points out that the turtles poached are perhaps picked up from beaches other than Sandspit and Hawke’s Bay — which could include the Russian Beach, and areas near Damb and Gadani in Balochistan.

Khan showed us a recently rescued turtle that was kept illegally as a pet. It is now being acclimatised with increasing volumes of seawater and sand on a daily basis and, eventually, will be released into the sea.

As we watched the baby turtles crawl on the sand, leaving behind a trail with their soft flippers, we felt a slight unease at the sight of the western reef egret which seemed to have eyeballed its food. But that’s the cycle of nature and Darwinism is inevitable.

At least, there’s someone looking out so that most of them have a better chance at life.

Our documentary can be viewed on the Youtube channel — Sindh Wildlife Club

Heba is a PR and communication professional, an artist, and a wildlife photographer
She can be reached at moeen.hiba@gmail.com

Ahmer is a sales and marketing professional who works on wildlife documentaries
He can be reached at ahmeralirizvi@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, February 6th, 2022