Inspectors rescue 11 Hawksbill turtles on Dubai shores

By PMA RASHEED

1 April 2011, The Gulf Today

A pack of juvenile Hawksbill turtles trapped in heavy sea waste on the shores of Dubai was rescued recently by the marine inspectors of Dubai Municipality (DM).

When the inspectors found the 11 young aquatic species, sized three to five inches and weighing 50 to 150 grams, they were suffering from malnutrition as they had been covered by different types of sea waste materials with their movement hindered.

Mohammed AbdulRahman Hassan, head of the marine environment and wildlife section at the DM, said the highly migratory species of turtles will be released back into their habitat, after carrying out necessary scientific tests on them and providing with required rehabilitation at a specialised centre in the emirate.

“The Hawksbill sea turtles travel through the oceans of the world frequently and this migratory behaviour has made it harder for policymakers to make laws to stop hunting them,” he added.

“It is quite hard to enforce the law to save the hawksbill turtles. As they migrate often, they have become shared resources among nations. If one country makes law to save the hawksbill sea turtles another country hunts them. This situation has given poachers the chance to hunt and trade them, resulting in their rapid extinction”, pointed out Hassan.

He urged fishermen and beachgoers to strictly adhere to the civic body’s environment protection regulations, so as to preserve this threatened marine species. We should be aware of our environment and its elements.

“Nesting places of the turtles on beaches should not be exposed or destructed. We want the people to report such incidents in order to send them back to their natural habitat,” he said.

“Many animal organisations are trying to take initiatives to save these beautiful creatures, as their migratory behaviour has made them more vulnerable. But all their moves are not being successful due to many reasons, due to the lack of human awareness,” he pointed out.

“The hawksbill sea turtles are being protected by different international laws and treaties. They have been enlisted in Appendix I of the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) which has made any kind of trade of this species illegal,” Hasssan elaborated.

“The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified the hawksbill turtles as critically endangered species. The Convention of Migratory Species (CMS) has also enlisted them in Appendices I and II to protect them,” he added.

According to him, all these regulations and treaties would not be able to save the hawksbill sea turtles until and unless these are enforced properly. “It’s not always possible due to many deficiencies. However, we have many other things to do to save this species. Awareness should be raised to keep the ecological balance.”

(Pic: Supplied)

Trash skimmers to clean up Dubai’s water channels

By PMA RASHEED

The Gulf Today, 29 Oct 2010

DUBAI Municipality (DM) has launched two trash skimmers, a type of vessels used for cleaning up water channels, at Dubai Creek on Wednesday on the sidelines of the country’s largest voluntary clean-up drive “Clean-up the World 2010.

Hassan Makki, director of waste management department at the DM, said that the vessels have a capacity of absorbing 500 kilogrammes of waste in one trip.

“The boat is equipped with high pressure fire-fighting system and water can be pumped using this system to wash the waste on rocks and the sticky waste resulting from wave cracking,” he added.

“The waste collector boats made of marine aluminum are seven metres long, 0.8 metres deep, and three metres wide. They can move at a speed of six nautical miles per hour,” he elaborated.

Makki revealed that a massive amount of 2,410 tonnes of waste has been collected from Dubai’s streets during the first two days of the Clean-up the World campaign 2010.

According to him, a total of 21 abandoned vehicles were removed from different parts of the city in two days.

“Over 13,800 volunteers, including students and employees from private and public sectors in the emirate engaged in a variety of cleaning activities at different locations across the city,” added the head of the four-day campaign task force.

“More than 2,020 tonnes of waste was collected by 9,750 volunteers from 202 private companies, hotels, community groups and NGOs. About 3,150 students from 42 government schools, colleges and universities picked up a total of 280 tonnes of waste from Al Warqa-4 Beach area,” explained Makki.

“As many as 900 volunteers from 12 government departments collected 110 tonnes of waste from the beach area. A total of 40 pieces of bulk waste including furniture, air conditioners and refrigerators were also collected,” he noted.

The Clean-Up the World campaign has been inaugurated by the civic body’s Director General Hussain Nasser Lootah at Jumeirah Beach Residence on Tuesday.

“Jaddaf Area will be cleaned up on the concluding day of the campaign, witnessing participation by thousands of volunteers from the general public, community groups and private entities,” said a DM spokesperson.

(Image supplied)

Turtle migration path in the Gulf seas revealed

By PMA RASHEED

The Gulf Today, 26 July 2010

NEW evidence of turtle migration patterns in the Middle Eastern seas have been revealed through the movements of a pack of turtles that were tagged and released to the sea recently by a UAE-based environmental group.

Findings of the group’s marine environment project have highlighted the significance of the Gulf as a Hawksbill feeding habitat. The tagged turtles disproved scientific theories that have existed for years, say scientists.

The preliminary results of marine turtle tagging project, initiated by the Emirates Wildlife Society (EWF-WWF) and the Marine Research Foundation (MRF) based in Malaysia, showed that Qatar is an important conservation area for the endangered marine species.

According to the environment group, the project seeks to track the migration patterns of 75 Hawksbill turtles over the course of three years through satellite mapping software.

Dr Nicolas J Pilcher, founder of the MRF and research advisor of the EWF-WWF for the project, said that the movements of 20 turtles tagged in Iran, Oman, the UAE and Qatar have already been recorded and initial findings have uncovered interesting results.

“The southern shores off Iran boast some of the most abundant soft corals and reef formations attracting Hawksbill turtles, but currently the turtles have swum away towards other countries,” she added.

“The five turtles in Iran were tagged in April and data shows that all of them have moved west and southwest towards Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Two have currently inhabited islands to the north of Abu Dhabi,” pointed out Dr Pilcher.

“Another two turtles in the group have swam towards the northern tip of Qatar, with one of those taking up residence in feeding grounds about 50 kilometres off Doha and the other settling off Qatar’s north coast by Ras Riken. The fifth Iran-tagged turtle swam past Qatar and Bahrain and now appears to have settled off the shores of the KSA,” elaborated the marine biologist.

“Meanwhile,” Dr Pilcher said, “the turtles nesting in Oman seas spent less time as residents and more time traveling - many of them as much as 1500 kilometres. Three of them headed south towards Masirah Island.”

“The turtle with the No.53003 seems to be a little more curious than the others and is the first Hawksbill Turtle recorded to swim up into the Gulf from Oman,” she added.

Lisa Perry, programme director of the EWS-WWF, said, “It has been believed by many scientists that the smaller size of the Gulf turtles compared to the larger Omani turtles and genetic isolation meant that there was no movement between populations.”

The first turtle tagged in the UAE, ‘Ms. EMEG,’ was released off the mainland shore of Jebel Ali just a couple of kilometers from Palm Jebel Ali.

“We were concerned the female turtle would get caught in offshore construction but when we tracked her movements, she headed deeper into the Gulf and missed both the Palm and World developments and headed straight up to Sharjah and Ajman,” she added.

“In Qatar, the turtle ‘Q’ made a purposeful migration south and has made the corner between the KSA, Qatar and the UAE its home. The other four turtles have taken up residence off the coast off Qatar, close to Bahrain and KSA,” said Dr Pilcher.

“But, none of the turtles took up residence on the east side of the Gulf, instead all of them went west or south,” added the marine turtle specialist.

“As the project develops, we will be able to delineate the important areas that turtles frequent and work towards the further conservation of these habitats,” said Dr Pilcher.

Commercial catch of small fish banned

BY PMA RASHEED

The Gulf Today, 18 Jan 2010

The UAE Ministry of Environment and Water (MoEW) has banned commercial fishing and sale of small-sized fish stocks.

Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad, the Minister of Environment and Water, issued a ministerial decree on Sunday prohibiting the catching of fish that are smaller than the permitted size.

A spokesperson of the MoEW said the move comes based on the results of a joint scientific study on valuable fish varieties in the waters of the UAE, conducted by the environment ministry, the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency and the Secretariat of the Cooperation Council for the Arab Gulf states.

"The fisheries department will coordinate with the ministry and competent local authorities in each Emirate on the protection of small aquaculture species," he said.

"On the other hand, the ministry will set up a campaign to educate fishermen and fishermen's organisations to protect the small sizes of marine stocks. They will be given lessons on the lengths of local fish to be caught or traded," added the ministry official.