Turtles of Karachi protected

All marine turtles nesting sites are on Hawksbay and Sandspit beaches.These two beaches are the most important turtles g
21 Jul, 2014

All marine turtles nesting sites are on Hawksbay and Sandspit beaches.

These two beaches are the most important turtles green nesting grounds in the world. Each year thousands of female green turtles come to beaches of Hawksbay and Sandspit off the coast of Karachi to lay their eggs.

The Sindh Wild Life Department in collaboration with WWF Pakistan is working on a project to save and protect the green turtles since 1980’s.

Green turtles eats exclusively sea grass and sea weed

(algae). Green turtles nests are laid throughout the year, with most nests occurring between July and December. The eggs are carefully kept in closed and release after the hatchlings are hatched.

Due to various activities the habitat is severely threatened and turtle nesting is on decline. Developments of front beach huts are often violate and the numbers of huts exceed the limits of land usage. And the space of turtles nesting is restricted severely. The beaches contain a lot of litter. The beaches contain a lot of garbages on sea land. That’s why green turtles have many problems to nest theirs eggs.

According to local media, “a not-for-profit organization, Shehri-Citizens for a Better Environment, recently conducted a project called the ‘GIS [Geographic Information Systems]. The project used the GIS planning tool to gain an understanding of the nesting patterns and processes with a focus on analyzing critical interactions between turtle nesting and the physical and environmental attributes of the beach. This will help in analyzing and identifying causes and locations of hindrances to turtle nesting”.

Pakistan has long been known to support a large population of green turtles.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2014

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