Day 8 10-may-2011 – sea turtles at Fuwayriit

CJ and Lisa came to get me at 17h30 and after grabbing some quick takeaway at yet another highly opulent shopping centre food court, complete with merry-go-round, we were on the road. It’s about an hour’s drive to Fuwayriit beach, on the northeast Qatar coast. Most of that drive is on a brand new, smooth as mirror 6-lane-hwy with nothing but desert on both sides. But then a small, yet not insignificant part is driving pretty much through that desert, in CJ’s Honda Civic. All I can say about that is, well, wow. And it was like “hmm, I think we’re supposed to go around this outcropping, hmmm, do you think it was along this depression in the sand, or that one?”

When we parked the car, we had to walk through the desert in the dark, which was very cool, and then you come to a sort of fence made of fabric with several “doors” in it. We marked the door with my bandanna so we’d find the car again on the way out.

Hawksbill sea turtles nest on various Qatari beaches but face, much like sea turtles everywhere, tremendous pressures. In this case, the main problem today is vehicles driving on the beach and disturbing turtle nests. Currently, Qatar has lost > 80% of the sea turtles it once had and they are legally protected. People used to dig up the nests and eat the eggs (gross!) or else hunt the turtles and eat the meat. That is now illegal and less of a problem. It seems that Qataris recognize the need to protect this species. So the government has a protection program in place, essentially, a guy (Shafeeq) in an Atco trailer on the beach, who scoots around every night during nesting season in a dune buggy, searching for nesting females. When he finds one, he marks the spot, then when the female is finished laying (this can take hours) he measures her, tags one of her flippers, (in some cases) puts a satellite transmitter on her, and then digs up her eggs. These, he moves to a specific location on the beach that he can keep watch over, making sure these new nests aren’t disturbed.


By the time we arrived, a fairly small female, and by fairly small, I mean at least 25 years old and slightly over a metre long carapace (the shell on the back) length, had finished laying and covering her eggs and was actually flipped over on her back, trying to figure out where the hell that darned ocean was. Shafeeq’s boss, from the Dept of the Environment, who was there tonight and drove us out to her got out of the dune buggy and turned her upright. This turtle had quite the hard time figuring out which direction to go in, was it the lights of the dune buggies that confused her or was she just slightly dumb? Who knows. Either way, the whole spectacle brought tears to my eyes. She was beautiful, although the barnacles growing on her head and carapace were somewhat unattractive, and incredibly exhausted. 

Then it was time for Shafeeq to tag her (while Lisa held the flipper) and measure her (WHILE I GOT TO HOLD HER IN PLACE!!!!!!!!). Definitely one of the highlights of my life. And let me tell you, that mama was strong – it took all my strength to keep her in one place and at one point she was literally dragging me along the beach. Amazing. 

She eventually made her way to sea, and by that I mean Shafeeq’s boss picked her up, brought her closer to the water and pointed her in the right direction.

Then Shafeeq dug up the nest, which was about 45 cm deep or so. It contained 61 eggs, most perfectly round, slightly soft and similar to a golf ball in size. Some were much smaller or deformed – apparently those aren’t viable and clutches typically contain some non-viable eggs. He moved the eggs to another spot, which already has 9 other clutches. It takes about 2 months for the eggs to incubate, so the first ones should start hatching in mid-june, which we’ll definitely be able to see. We’ll probably also go back to watch nesting females again too.

Now, I should explain that sea turtle survival is typically low. I have no idea what it is for this population. I also know that the depth of the nest (and nest temperature) is what determines the sex ratio of the offspring, as opposed to genetics, as in mammals, for example. This is really a rudimentary conservation operation – I didn’t even bother mentioning to Shafeeq that if they aren’t careful about how they relocate the eggs, they may end up with highly skewed sex ratios in the population. To learn more about the trajectory satellite-tracked females make in the gulf, visit http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?tag_id=105847&anime=1

We then had the amazing experience of swimming in the Persian gulf in the moonlight. The water was warm, clear and the current was strong. But everything about tonight was an absolute delight and the weather was perfect. Oh, and Shafeeq took my contact info because they’re looking for a wildlife biologist. Hmmm, in particular, it seems they want someone to help out with a shark project. Oh my God, what I wouldn’t give to work with sharks. I told him that I’m more than willing to get my diving certificate and that I’d jump at that opportunity.

There are so many reasons why I love Qatar, this is just one more.

Below is some video I took.

Peace to all.