In a protected area on Fuwayrit Beach in northeast Qatar, six-year-old Lulwa tosses two rock-billed turtle chicks as they are released into the water, as part of a children-led initiative to conserve these marine animals.
Of the thousands of turtle eggs that will hatch this year (97 nests were counted on June 12, and each nest contains between 80 and 120 eggs), only one in 1,000 turtles will reach maturity due to fishing nets and predators. The rock-billed turtle – the only one that breeds in Qatar – was listed as endangered on the Red List in 1982 before it was classified as “endangered” in 1996.
Qatar launched a turtle conservation program in 2003 that has allowed it to re-release 30,000 baby turtles over the past five years, including more than 9,000 in 2020 when the sea beaches were empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These animals (..) act like a vacuum cleaner (eating jellyfish and seaweed). If they don’t, there will be repercussions for all marine life. That is why We pass laws to protect it.” Between April and June, Syed Ahmed and his colleagues observe the female turtles as they lay their eggs. They take measurements, clean and, if necessary, provide the necessary care. She is sometimes provided with tracking devices to monitor the movements of the females at sea. After emptying the nests of eggs under the sand, they are placed in a safe place away from the tides and predators. After the eggs hatch, which occurs sixty days after the eggs are laid, Muhammad Syed Ahmed explains that “the good and healthy (turtle chicks) are released into the sea, but we leave the young and tired and release them into the pond (to become stronger).”
The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, represented by the Department of Wildlife Development, together with the Center for Children’s Literature, organized an environmental event for children and took part in the cleaning of Fuwayrit Beach to provide a clean and safe environment for young turtles (1/2) rice.twitter.com/duBpjUhvUf
— Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Qatar | MOESK Qatar (@moecc_qatar) June 24, 2022
mental health
To determine which of these chicks need to survive the longest, the Turtle Conservation Program measures and weighs the number of chicks in each nest. One evening in June, Lulwa, 8-year-old Sheikha and 9-year-old Abdullah helped them. Other children participate in this event in the evenings until mid-July, initiated by the Children’s Museum in Qatar, which organizes excursions for children to the beach to watch turtle eggs hatch. Museum spokesperson Clara Lim says: “As adults, we have no hope (…), but children have the opportunity to absorb all these things and integrate them into their lives.”
The Little Sheikha says that the first habit for keeping turtles is “not to throw plastic into the sea because it will get stuck in it” and not to try to eat it. Other threats include lack of beach area, overfishing and climate change. Sea turtles instinctively return to lay their eggs on their native shores, so it will not be difficult to assess the success of this program. But it’s still early, as rock-billed turtles don’t start breeding until they’re 25 years old.
The first figures will be available by 2028, when sea turtles released into the sea in 2003 return to lay eggs in Qatar. However, since there are 15 nests on Fuwayrit Beach, Thierry Lisalis, president of the Qatar Natural History Group, which is involved in a program that attracts children, confirms that “statistics show that more sea turtles are coming here to breed.” Mohamed Syed Ahmed hopes to conduct research at sea to confirm the presence of large numbers of baby turtles.
