KARACHI: Assessment of sea turtles mortality in fishing operations, awareness raising exercises and enhancing the use of turtle excluder device (TED) in fishing nets are some of the activities planned under a project launched to protect turtles along the coast of Sindh and Balochistan, it emerged on Tuesday.

Titled ‘Saving the Endangered Sea Turtles’, the project is funded by USAID under its Small Grants and Ambassador’s Fund Programme and will be implemented by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) in partnership with Climate Change Division, Marine Fisheries Department, wildlife departments of Sindh and Balochistan, Worldwide Fund for Nature-Pakistan and Mangroves for the Future Programme (MFF).

A steering committee led by Inspector General Forests Syed Mahmood Nasir has also been set up for the project which was launched on Monday.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2014