Green turtles awareness programme
By SYED INTIKHAB ALI November 13, 2008 KARACHI - Sandspit and Hawks Bay beaches and Sindh Wildlife, in a joint venture, are doing their level best to create awareness and provide an ideal environment for the breeding and hatching the green turtle, which has been listed as an endangered species.
According to the wildlife experts, only one turtle survives in one thousands hatchlings. Its breeding in different countries takes place usually from July to November. In Pakistan, the green turtle nests for eggs on Sand spit and Hawks Bay beaches from November to February. A female turtle nests three to four times during this season. Every year, an average of 800 nests are observed at the beaches in Karachi while coastal areas of Balochistan are also believed to have a large number of green turtles. Game officer Sindh Wildlife Department, Adnan Hamid, enthusiastically involved in the preservation this endangered species, told The Nation on Wednesday that the provincial Wildlife Department, took hundreds of students of various schools to local beaches with a view to create awareness among them about the endangered species.
The children took keen interest in the entire process of egg laying and hatching of the turtles.
Hamid said that students of Karachi Grammar School, Karachi Cambridge School, Karachi Japanese School, AMI School, Bay View Junior and Senior, Higher Academy Schools and other institutions visited the beaches. He said that so far the department has tacked 7,000 turtles and attach transmitters with four animals. He added that process of tacking was underway from 1980.Sindh Wildlife Department is organising Green Turtle Watch Trip at Sands Pit beach and thousands of the students from various schools visited these beaches. According to the wildlife experts, on the average only one turtle survives out of one thousands hatched eggs.
The species is facing various challenges to its survival in the marine habitat. The threats to its population are manifold including low growth rate and environmental hazards. The rate of successful hatching from eggs in an ideal situation and habitat is only 55pc. Different animals such as crabs, crows, eagles, dogs and others usually eat the eggs buried in sand. The survival rate of the hatchlings in sea is as low as 0.1pc because various sea animals such as fish and others also eat a large number of baby turtles. A large number of young turtles are also trapped in the nets of fish-trawlers. Numerous projects are running in many countries in order to protect green turtles from total extinction and the Marine Turtle Project run by Sindh Wildlife Department is one of them. The project team works round-the-clock at Turtle Nursing Centres such as Sandspit and Hawksbay. The team consists of five guards and a few volunteers. They are providing protection to the green turtles and their eggs from predators. They start tracking along the beach soon after dark and mark the places where turtles are sighted laying eggs. After the turtles return to the sea, the workers dig pits, collect eggs and transplant them in netted enclosures inside the hatcheries.
The collected eggs are incubated under sand in safe enclosures and the hatchlings are produced in 40 to 60 days. As soon as the workers find a newly-born baby turtle, they immediately carry it to the shore and release safely into the sea.