A male Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas, was found beached and in distress on a local beach last Wednesday. Thanks to the organisation and coordination efforts of bnature together with the actions of the Supreme Council for Environment and those responsible for finding the turtle, Terry (as he is now know) was successfully relocated to the National Mariculture Center for rehabilitation. The turtle was documented at 85cm in length and 50 cm in width.
A note on local sea turtles…
Two species of sea turtles inhabit the waters around Bahrain including the Hawar Islands: the green turtle, Chelonia mydas, and the hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata. Records of loggerhead turtles, Caretta caretta also exist. Although they are not typically known to nest in Bahrain, the sea grass meadows mainly to the west of Bahrain and around Hawar provide them with valuable foraging areas. Both species of sea turtle are endangered world wide and face threat from a multitude of human activites including loss of habitat due to coastal development, solid waste disposal in the marine environment (especially plastic bags which turtles often mistake for edible jellyfish), collisions with boats and by-catch. In Bahrain, Marine turtles and other marine mammals are protect by law under Ministerial Resolution No. 3 of 2003.
In cases of stranded, injured or dead marine mammals or turtles please avoid moving the animal and contact the local authorities, the Supreme Council for Environment, on 80001112 as soon as possible.
The Marine Atlas of Bahrain (2009) GEOMATEC, Bahrain Centre for Studies and Research.
Photo Credit: Ali Shuaib