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Dubai: 80 stranded turtles saved from beaches as residents step in to help

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Since the start of 2021, a Dubai-based group has saved 80 turtles from the coast of the emirate — and many more are rescued daily — in part due to thousands of responses received to public advice issued.


Some were as small as 150 grams — babies experiencing their first winter.


Barbara Lang-Lenton, Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project (DTRP) lead and Director of Aquarium at Jumeirah Burj Al Arab said: "Last week was one of our busiest yet. “We had nine turtles in one day, but we generally get about one to five turtles a day.”


DTRP also issued a social media advisory last week, urging beachgoers to contact its rescue hotline if they encounter turtles that wash ashore. “Along with a spike in calls to our toll free number, 800 TURTLE to rescue turtles, we received literally hundreds of phone calls and emails from people asking how they could help,” she said.


Since the project began in 2004, 2,196 turtles have been released after rehabilitation, 89 of these have been monitored by satellite tracking. A few of the turtles that were tagged have otherwise travelled thousands of kilometers — with one even making a journey to Thailand.


First winter


The turtles recovered were mostly juveniles, Barbara said. The turtles recovered were mainly juvenile hawksbills entering their first life with no experience of winter, weighing between 150 and 400 grams. Most of them were encrusted with barnacles and oysters. We also rehabilitated a few green turtles (such as these) and some also lack front flippers, which is due to bycatch from lost fishing gear."


Most were recovering well but some suffered severe injuries, she added. One sadly is afflicted by aggressive barnacle scraping and near death by semi-drowning upon rescue, hetzelfde, ze voedsel. The other two turtles have serious bowel obstructions as a result of eating plastic.


Residents have been told numerous times not to scrape barnacles off the turtles as the barnacles have nerve endings and scraping them can lead to infections.


Recovery


After initial treatment at Jumeirah Burj Al Arab's Aquarium, turtles are transferred to Jumeirah Al Naseem's Turtle Rehabilitation Sanctuary for specialized treatment, explained Barbara.


These turtles can be seen resting in the lagoon where they are recuperating as well as partaking in daily talks and turtle feeding before they are released back into the wild,” she said. It also organises a programme for schools to gain more insight into the project. Each year it draws approximately 1,500 school students from all of the emirates.


No two days are the same in the centre, particularly at peak times of year for rescues, but Ms Harris said that there were some protocols the centre sticks to.


On a normal day, the team will first check and then treat for any possible infections all turtles in care, and then change the water, give medication, and then give food," she said. Some days include taking turtles to the veterinary hospital to have specific treatments such as X-rays or surgery performed. However, our team looks after the aquariums at Jumeirah Burj Al Arab and there is an additional coral restoration project assisted by a nursery at Jumeirah Al Naseem, which also involves daily dives.”


Climate change presents formidable challenges to turtles worldwide, she said. She said: "Increased storms, floods, and an increase in sea level threaten nesting beaches, while bleaching degrades coral reefs - critical feeding habitat.

Although this phenological shift has an associated fitness cost in the form of skewed offspring sex ratios due to high nest temperatures making them more likely to hatch as females, potentially impacting population dynamics. Turtles have altered currents that also interfere with their migration patterns.”


Dubai residents come together to save 80 turtles stuck on land! Find out how community is rising to the challenge. Get the latest Just Dubai news Subscribe to Just Dubai!
 

By: admin

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