Rare hawksbill turtles released into the wild
Dubai Municipality released seven green sea turtles and 11 hawksbill turtles at Jebel Ali Wildlife Sanctuary.
The green sea turtle is an endangered species, while the hawksbill is on the critically endangered list.
The municipality has monitoring programmes during hawksbill nesting season from March to June and yearround satellite tracking programmes to gather information about their migration patterns.
Fifty-two small turtles that were recently hatched from their nests in the sanctuary were released.
Officials kept the hawksbills’ eggs in sheds to protect them from natural predators such as foxes and seagulls.
The average female adult hawksbill lays eggs three times a season over a period of two weeks.
Hawksbill turtles lay between 80 and 120 eggs per nest, which hatch after about 60 days.
The sanctuary identified 41 nests in the first half of the year. That may increase to more than 50, based on statistics from previous seasons.
Sea turtles are also at extreme risk from human activity on land and at sea, including habitat destruction, coastal development and pollution.
Hawksbill turtles are critical to coral reef health because they eat algae and sponges, which compete with the coral for space.
But the global population of hawksbill turtles has shrunk by about 80 per cent over the past three generations.
The sanctuary covers 77 square kilometres and is home to about 539 plant and animal species, including dugongs, sharks and 34 types of coral.
Dugongs and Indo-Pacific humpback whales are endangered species registered in the reserve.
The sanctuary is also considered a suitable area for breeding many types of fish.
These include the orange-spotted grouper, the Arabian carpet shark, the black-tipped reef shark and the whale shark, all species that are threatened with extinction.
The sanctuary is the only beach area in the Arabian Gulf where turtles lay eggs, with all other nesting areas found on the islands.