Baby turtles given safe space on Pakistani beaches

KARACHI－At a beach in Pakistan's bustling port city of Karachi late at night, a female turtle lumbers across the sand looking for a place to lay eggs.

Staff from Sindh Wildlife watch quietly as the green turtle buries 100 or more eggs in the sand before heading back out into the Arabian Sea.

Beaches around the world have less human presence due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions since last year.

So the endangered sea turtles have taken the opportunity to return to the beaches in large numbers, reclaiming the now less polluted, serene beaches to lay their eggs during the main September-November breeding season.

Green turtles seen on Karachi beaches jumped to 15,000 last year from 8,000 to 8,500 in 2019, said Sindh Wildlife. Lockdowns ended by the start of this year's season, but conservation experts still expect a large number of the turtles to visit.

As one of the largest sea turtles in the world, adult green turtles can weigh more than 90 kilograms.

The herbivores nest in more than 80 countries and live in more than 140 tropical and subtropical coastal areas. Conservation group Sea Turtle Conservancy said there are 85,000 to 90,000 nesting female turtles worldwide.

The weather in Karachi can be conducive to egg-laying till as late as January, and wildlife officials will keep up their vigil until then.

'Ample opportunity'

"The turtles have still had an ample egg-laying opportunity during this period. In this season, too, we have had a large number of turtles coming here. The result is that within a period of three months, we have nested around 6,000 eggs so far," said Ashfaq Ali Memon, who is in charge of Sindh Wildlife's marine turtle unit.

As soon as the mother turtle leaves, staff hurry to dig out the eggs and move them to a pit of about 1 meter deep in a hatchery until the babies hatch 40 to 45 days later. The hatchlings will then be taken to the beach immediately and released into the sea.

The Sindh turtle unit has released 860,000 baby turtles into the Arabian Sea since its establishment in 1970. Memon said 900 have been released so far this season.

Conservationists said sea turtle populations were threatened due to the demand for their fat, meat and eggs, but loss of habitat due to pollution and land reclamation have taken its toll on the turtles in recent years.

Agencies Via Xinhua