KARACHI: Sea turtles along Pakistan’s coast face a host of anthropogenic threats, which include habitat degradation, plastic pollution and entanglement in fishing gears. The major nesting grounds along Sandspit and Hawkesbay beaches in Karachi and Taq in Ormara, Balochistan, have been adversely affected by construction of huts.

This was stated by experts associated with the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) on the occasion of World Sea Turtle Day, which is observed every year on June 16.

In Pakistan, sea turtles are known to nest on a number of beaches, including Sandspit, Hawkesbay and Cape Monze, along the Sindh coast, and Taq (Ormara), Astola Island, Gwadar Headland and Daran along the Balochistan coast. Thousands of female turtles visit these beaches to nest and lay eggs.

A 2012 WWF-P study showed that 30,000 sea turtles were annually caught in tuna gillnets in the country. This included roughly 25,500 olive ridley and 4,500 green turtles in the offshore waters of Pakistan.

It was estimated that about three per cent of the entangled turtles were dying due to drowning or mishandling on-board fishing vessels.

“The organisation trained 100 skippers and crew members to safely release entangled turtles and developed a modification in the operation of gillnet, which significantly reduced entanglement of sea turtles. This is a major achievement towards the conservation of sea turtles along Pakistan’s coast,” said Muhammad Moazzam Khan, the technical adviser with WWF-P.

Pollution, he pointed out, was another major threat to the sea turtle population in Pakistani waters. “Popular beaches are littered with garbage, dominated by single-use and microplastics. The organisation has also reported exposure to fuels, such as diesel and petrol, lead to deformation in hatchlings and thus, pose a serious threat to their survival.”

The experts called for declaring all turtle beaches along the coast of Sindh and Balochistan as marine protected areas.

“This is essentially needed for conservation of marine turtles. These unique and iconic animals have been in existence for more than 100 million years, but now face serious threats to their survival. Human activities such as destruction of nesting sites and unplanned development, as well as climate change are pushing turtles closer to extinction,” said Rab Nawaz, senior director conservation biodiversity at WWF-P.

Five species of marine turtles are reported from Pakistan; of them green turtles are the most dominant one. Another important species is the olive ridley which used to nest along Pakistan’s coast. However, no nest of this turtle has been reported since 2001. The other three species reported from Pakistan are the loggerhead turtle, hawksbill turtle and leatherback turtle.

According to experts, although turtles are not commercially harvested for food in Pakistan, poaching of turtle eggs has been reported.

Turtle hatchlings are also illegally removed from their nests and sold in aquarium shops, they said.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2022