Sea turtle rescue in Kuwait

Green sea turtle rescued from a power plant in Kuwait. Credit Kuwait Turtle Conservation Project

On the 10th of October 2009, a Senyar(See below) team received a call from the Shuaiba electricity power plant with the request to visit the premises to rescue a turtle that was trapped in a twelve-meter deep cistern containing heavily chlorinated sea water. It took nine days to obtain the correct permits for the Senyar team. Nine team members with two boats, nets, special hooks and tools arrived to rescue the half metre long juvenile Green turtle.

The operation was successful despite some strong currents in the cistern, making smooth movement of the boats difficult. The animal was checked for signs of distress and was kept in a specially purchased water tank overnight. The next day four team members took it away from the dangerous shoreline of Kuwait to the coastal waters of Kubbar Island, where it was released, it swam away vigorously.

The Kuwait Turtle Conservation Project
Operating in Kuwait since July 2008 and sponsored by TOTAL Foundation and TOTAL Kuwait, the Kuwait Turtle Conservation Project (KTCP - www.kuwaitturtles.com ) is attempting to find out more about the Green and Hawksbill turtle populations nesting on the Kuwait's tiny atolls, Qaru and Umm Al-Maradim. With two nesting seasons of research completed, with 2 more to go, some new information has already been discovered; The turtle populations are small and fluctuate tremendously from year to year; Hawksbills nest on both islets whereas Greens only nest in Qaru.

Kuwait turtles
Turtles are found elsewhere in Kuwait as well. They are encountered in several stages of life by fishermen and shrimp trawlers, most of which have used Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) for a number of years now in order to spare turtles a pointless death. They are sometimes seen by snorkellers near the tourist resort of Khiran, though unfortunately some people still believe they can capture them and keep them as pets.

The 50 centimetre Green turtle was kept overnight before being released, apparently unharmed. Credit KTCP.

Senyar
Senyar means "together in the sea". It is a project inaugurated by the Emir of Kuwait in May 2007 with the purpose of protecting the marine environment of Kuwait. Within the Voluntary Work Center (VWC) of Kuwait, a dive team was created with the purpose of planting artificial reefs, installing mooring buoys where they are needed, beach and sea bed cleanups, searching for lost gear underwater, taking notes of the gaps in environmental legislation regarding the marine environment and rescuing marine animals in distress all around the country.

Rescued a whaleshark
In July 2009, the Senyar team, in cooperation with the Scientific Center of Kuwait and the Environmental Protection agency of Kuwait, rescued a whale shark trapped in one of the city's prestigious marinas. More often, however, turtles are to be rescued from accidental capture in industrial installations.

Kuwait Turtle Conservation Project
Several members of Senyar are dedicated members of KTCP and the two projects work closely together towards sea turtle conservation in Kuwait. Such cooperation is rare in the region, where conservationists are rare and usually work individually. Through the two projects' work, awareness about marine life and its fragility is beginning to be raised in Kuwait and it is hoped that this will benefit the coral reefs, turtles, fish and marine mammals which visit and live in the small Gulf nation's seas, possibly forming migration routes to and from several other countries' marine territories inside and outside the Gulf area as well.