KARACHI: Nine out of the 40 recently confiscated turtle hatchlings died before they could experience the sea for the first time on Wednesday afternoon at the Sandspit beach where they were brought for release. This once again highlights serious gaps in the rescue and release operation of the wildlife department staff.

It seemed that the tiny turtles, hardly two to three days old, couldn’t survive the long time taken by the staff to release them into their natural habitat.

The 40 hatchlings of the green sea turtles, an endangered marine species, were confiscated along with nine Indian flapshell turtles, a freshwater species, two days ago from Karachi’s Burnes Road where they were being illegally sold at two shops.

The wildlife staff released the flapshell turtles, all juveniles over the age of one, into the Haleji Lake on Tuesday; however, the babies were released on the third day of their confiscation.

Upon questioning, the wildlife staff couldn’t give a convincing justification of their delayed action. They argued that five turtle babies had already died when recovered from the shops while four of them died this morning (Wednesday) at the wildlife hatchery at Sandspit where they had been brought for release.

As nine tiny motionless bodies of turtles were placed in a jar filled with chemicals for the purpose of preservation, their 31 fellows were released into the sea, one after the other.

Struggling against the strong waves that constantly pushed them back to the shore, they soon managed to make their way into the sea and disappeared.

“Their battle for survival is not yet over as they have many predators in their natural habitat. We don’t know how many of them will be able to survive and grow into an adult after 10 to 15 years. Only one in a thousand turtle hatchlings are able to achieve this status,” said Shoaib Abdur Razzaq, a conservation officer at the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan.

He added that the hatchling mortalities could have been prevented if the babies were released into the sea earlier.

According to him, turtle babies swim for 24 to 36 hours in the open sea before they start feeding on microorganisms.

To a question, he said that people who come across turtles being sold illegally should immediately inform either wildlife authorities or the WWF for their rescue.

“All turtles and tortoises are threatened and protected species. They should be immediately released into their natural habitat but if their immediate release is not possible, they should be kept in a secure sandy place temporarily,” he said, adding that marine turtles needed urgent release.

Poaching, he pointed out, was one of the biggest threats to turtles, both marine and freshwater species. Construction of huts along the beach, he said, had also disturbed marine turtle nesting activities.

It is noteworthy that rescue and release operations by the wildlife department have often been marred by frequent mortalities and experts have been calling upon the government to build staff capacity.

A few months ago dozens of freshwater turtles were found dead along a lake in Sukkur where they were released following their seizure in the DHA, Karachi.

The green turtle is the most common species found along the coast of Pakistan, and females of this species visit sandy beaches along the country’s coast including Sandspit, Hawkesbay, Cape Monz, Sonmiani, Ormara, Astola Island, Daran and Jiwani.

The other species reported from Pakistan are olive ridley turtles, leatherback turtles, loggerhead turtles and the hawksbill turtle.

Published in Dawn February 9th, 2017