KARACHI, Nov 9: The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF-Pakistan) along with various schools in the city will launch beach cleaning campaign to save marine turtles along the coast.

According to the Deputy Director General WWF-Pakistan, Dr Ejaz Ahmed, more than 3,000 children from various schools of the city district government and their teachers would participate in the one-year beach cleaning programme scheduled to start on Nov 19.

He said that around 300 students from one or two city government schools would be participating every week in this mission. WWF-P experts would lead the campaign, he added.

Dr Ejaz said that major threats to these turtles included pollution on the beach like plastic, rubber, glass, leather; predation on eggs and hatchlings by dogs, crows, kites, beach visitors; and disturbance by beach visitors in the shape of noise and lights.

He said that beach cleaning was essential to provide a safe nesting site to the marine turtles.

The WWF-Pakistan in collaboration with different local and international organizations and the coastal communities had been working for the protection and promotion of these turtles for the last three years that come to nest on the beaches.

The senior environment expert said the marine turtles were species of special concern and were included in the WWF-P strategic plan. Globally, there were eight species of marine turtles and they were all classified as endangered. Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) and Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) were the two species of marine turtles that nest along the Sandspit and Hawkesbay beaches at the Karachi coast.

Dr Ejaz Ahmed said all species of marine turtles were listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Pakistan was a signatory to the CITES, which prohibited trade in turtles, turtle parts and eggs.

The government of Sindh had also declared marine turtles as protected species.

Sandspit and Hawkesbay were globally important for marine turtle nesting. The beaches are sandy and the nesting habitat was concentrated along a 5-km-stretch of the beach.

The Sindh Wildlife Department had been implementing a marine turtle conservation programme at the coast for the last two decades which included establishing and running turtle hatcheries in the area.

WWF-Pakistan’s Communication Officer Shameer Prasla said his organization had started its turtle conservation activities at the Karachi coast after establishing a wetland centre at the Sandspit beach.

The WWF conservation efforts focus on monitoring turtle populations, protecting nesting turtles, hatchlings and eggs, creating awareness among beach visitors, students and other target groups, organizing beach cleaning activities that involved students and volunteers. —APP