The Kuwait Turtle Conservation Project has completed its first year and several conclusions can be drawn from the efforts of its multinational team:

About the turtles

1. There are two species of turtles nesting on the offshore islands of Kuwait: Hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata)only in Umm Al-Maradim and both Green (Chelonia mydas) and Hawksbill turtles on Qaru island.
2. Hawksbill turtles nest from mid-May to the end of June, but there are suspicions of a second “late” nesting season in September.
3. Green turtles nest from July to September.
4. Populations of Green turtles seem to have large fluctuations from year to year, probably due to the well-known fact that they sometimes nest every 3 or 4 years rather than every 1 or 2 for all other turtle species.
5. Juvenile Hawksbills seen in the water around the islands suggest the existence of appropriate feeding grounds for Hawksbills in many life stages.
6. Male Hawksbill turtles seen in near shore waters suggest the islands provide mating grounds for this turtle species as well.
7. Nesting beaches on both islands are degraded by garbage brought by the waves and by visitors from the city who barbecue, camp and enjoy the same sandy beaches that turtles choose to lay eggs in at the same time of the year.

About the reefs

1. The fringing coral reef around Qaru is one of the most important ones in Kuwait because it hosts over 117 fish species, 18 species of crustaceans and many species of mollusks (KTCP teams keep discovering).
2. Reefs in Qaru and Umm Al-Maradim are nurseries for many fish species.
3. Reefs in both islands consist of limited diversity of corals, making them more vulnerable to destruction than any reef made of many species of corals.
4. Soft corals and hard corals are present in the reefs of both islands.
5. A large amount of sea urchins (3 species present on corals around both islands) suggests vulnerability of the reefs.
6. Big pelagic predators, such as barracudas and sharks, approach the shallow waters of both islands for feeding, mainly at night.
7. Both reef areas are suffering heavily from garbage and anchoring damage made by recreational craft visiting the islands at a regular basis.

Actions undertaken by the Senyar team of the VWC

1. Installation of numerous mooring buoys all around both islands and in various distances from the shore.
2. Regular island clean-ups.
3. Regular reef clean-ups.
4. Installation of signs indicating the presence and importance of the reef and sea turtles and suggesting actions which need to be avoided.
5. Active voluntary participation at KTCP providing logistical support, diving, underwater photography and filmography and field work assistance (monitoring nesting acivity, tagging activities etc).

Recommendations

1. Limitation of leisure yachts and visitors at nesting beaches on both islands during nesting and hatching seasons.
2. Continuation of research to establish how many phases of the turtles’ life cycle take place in the area, inside and outside the waters.
3. Immediate information, education and awareness campaign to all relevant stakeholders of Kuwait about the importance of flagship species for the country’s natural history and biodiversity.
4. Specific legislation on marine protected areas and flagship species, coral reefs and sea mammals, especially with regards to recreational and professional fisheries which are very present and popular in Kuwait.
5. Integration of environmental education in the schools’ official curricula. Kuwait hosts an impressive ecological wealth worth knowing and protecting.
6. Creating a pilot project of a restricted area (”natural hatchery”) on Qaru Island in order to observe turtle nesting activities for a period of at least five years and extract scientific conclusions with a minimum of impact from tourist activities.
7. Creating a corps of wildlife rangers in Kuwait who could enforce existing and future environmental law.

An important lesson: Kuwait Weather!

January 11, 2010

The technology of i-buttons is not unknown to turtle researchers and conservationists: The i-button, a small electronic device (check out: “what is an i-button?” http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/ibutton/ibuttons/ for full definition), serves as temperature and humidity logger and is often inserted in turtles’ nests during nesting in order to be retrieved a few months later and provide important information about conditions of hatching, temperature and humidity variations in the nest, etc.

Beware, however, of the weather! KTCP researchers have been trying to retrieve i-buttons on Qaru island since the month of November 2009 without success, as unpredictable weather has prevented them from reaching Qaru. Like in many projects concerning offshore locations, here as well, the weather has been a factor creating difficulties for the team. As a result, the ibuttons, inserted in mid-august 2009, have still not been retrieved despite multiple attempts. The team hopes they will still be in good condition even after all these months, in order to provide the much-needed information about Green turtle nesting in Qaru last summer…