KARACHI: The country’s coastline boasted of five species of marine turtles
but one of them, the leatherback, was never spotted live before – until Tuesday
when a group of fishermen caught one at Gwadar.
Green turtles, olive-ridley, hawksbill and loggerhead are among the others also
found along the Pakistan coastline, but the leatherback is considered one of the
most rare species, not just in the country, but across the globe.
On Tuesday, a group of fishermen operating a monofilament gillnet caught a large
leatherback turtle at Gwadar near Surbandar village. Since the turtle was stuck
inside their net, the fishermen brought the turtle to the beach, after which the
World Wildlife Fund – Pakistan (WWF-P) helped them rescue it and release it back
into the sea.
According to WWF-P technical adviser on marine fisheries Muhammad Moazzam Khan,
leatherback turtles are very rarely found in the coastal areas of Pakistan. They
have been spotted four or five times before but they were all dead.
“It is our luck that leatherback turtles exist in our sea as these are signs of
the existence of life in natural position,” Khan said.
WWF-P has trained the fishermen, who venture out into the sea, to make sure they
don’t harm the wildlife that is not of interest to them, such as turtles and
whales. “We are happy that our fishermen now have a sense of the value of marine
life.” The young fishermen had no recollection of leatherback turtles, but the
older ones remember seeing them.
The fishermen sacrificed an expensive gillnet, worth nearly Rs14,000, to save
the turtle, pointed out WWF-P’s coordinator at Gwadar Abdul Rahim. Fishermen now
release the turtles safely if they are enmeshed in their gillnet and other
fishing gears and do not fling the turtle as they used to, he added.
The turtle that was released into the sea 30 minutes after it was found weighed
around 400 kilogrammes. “Almost 90 per cent of the leatherbacks diet comprises
jelly fish, which have gained in numbers significantly along the coast of Sindh
and Balochistan in the past 10 years,” he explained. “This may be one of the
reasons that they managed to grab the turtle.”
Khan and his team will study the coastal belt and carry out further research on
this species of marine turtles.
According to WWF-P director Rab Nawaz, the sighting of a live leatherback turtle
is a good omen for the country’s biodiversity. His team recently located a large
population of olive-ridley turtles from offshore waters of Pakistan, which were
believed to be extinct. A dead leatherback was once spotted at Pushukan near
Gwadar in 2002.
Nawaz pointed out that recent estimates show that this species is declining
precipitously throughout its range of distribution.
He stressed the need for all stakeholders including fishermen, wildlife
departments and NGOs take necessary steps to protect these turtles. He suggested
monitoring nesting beaches and patrolling them to protect mothers from
scavengers including feral dogs.
This species is largest of marine turtles
The Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is the largest marine turtle, in
fact the largest reptile, according to a WWF-P press statement. It is mostly
widely distributed in Indian and Pacific oceans, including North Sea. In the
Arabian Sea, it is found in India, Oman, UAE and Yemen, but it is the rarest of
all species of turtles in the area.
Leatherback turtle can grow up to 900kg and has a teardrop shaped body.
According to WWF-P director Rab Nawaz, leatherback turtles have survived for
more than a hundred million years, but are now facing extinction.
The global population of this species was estimated to be 115,000 adult females
in 1982, said WWF-P technical adviser on marine fisheries Muhammad Moazzam Khan,
adding that the number went down to 40,000 by 1996. Leatherback populations in
the Indian Ocean have undergone dramatic declines in the past 40 years. The
nesting colony at Terengganu, Malaysia, went from more than 3,000 females in
1968, to 20 in 1993, to just two recorded recently.
With additional input from WWF-P press release
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2013.
via https://tribune.com.pk/story/536967/leatherback-turtle-spotted-for-the-first-time-at-gwadar/