‘Masirah Turtle Campaign’, the Environment Society of Oman’s (ESO) intensive five-day initiative, was launched to raise awareness about the dangers that fishermen’s nets can cause to the island’s endangered sea creatures. It was a part of ESO’s efforts to ensure that sea turtles remain safe in their natural habitat.
Thousands of turtles nest on Masirah Island every year, and it represents one of the highest densities of nesting loggerhead turtles in the world. However, nesting habitats of this population are being compromised due to human activities such as by-catch in fishing gear, entanglement in abandoned and lost fishing gear at sea, boat strikes, disturbance on beaches from beach driving, and disorientation due to light pollution. In February 2019, three skip bins were installed on three beaches used as fish landing sites to incite fishermen to dispose of their nets instead than in the open ocean. The bins were accompanied with signs written in five of the most common spoken languages by the fishing community in Masirah. This initiative was done in coordination with Be’ah, Ecovision, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs (MECA), the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) and Masirah Municipality.
Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Hamed Al Gheilani, Community Outreach Manager at ESO, said: “For years, people have lived in harmony with sea turtles, however, today, they are threatened by a number of issues which caused them to become endangered including unsustainable fishing practices, marine pollution, lighting pollution. Climate change has also an underlying impact that is poorly understood to date. The campaign was launched in order for us to ensure we reach the maximum number of people and significantly boost the marine environment.”
Activities organised as part of the initiative ranged from awareness presentations for fishermen, schoolchildren, Royal Air Force of Oman and Omani Women Association, to football matches with turtle themed names; it also involved one municipal beach clean-up with the participation of members of the community.
To learn more about the society’s campaigns and programs, visit http://www.eso.org.om.