Saudi National Center for Wildlife through rehabilitation programs and research studies aims to protect nesting sites of endangered sea turtles. Amidst the rising atrocities of marine wildlife, the Saudi National Center for Wildlife has been on a mission to rescue and rehabilitate various wildlife species and the recent one on their list is the rehabilitation of five turtles found on the coasts of Saudi Arabia.
The world’s oceans include seven species of sea turtles, five of which have been discovered in the Kingdom’s territorial waters of the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, the centre reported. Sea turtles have crossed great distances across the world for over 100 million years and they play a vital role in maintaining the health and balance of the marine ecosystem.
In the recent past years, the Kingdom has recorded 16 species of marine mammals in the Saudi territorial waters in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, where there are one species from the order of Sirenia (dugong), which are found in large numbers concentrated in some sites of the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea.
There have been sightings of green, hawksbill, loggerhead, olive ridley and leatherback turtles. During the nesting season, sea turtles lay 60 to 160 eggs at once and they can be repeated up to six times throughout a nesting season. In many cases, turtles have been seen to return to the same areas that they were born in more than 40 years later, reported the Centre. However, due to human encroachment, sea turtles are facing many threats, including overfishing, climate change, pollution, and habitat destruction, mainly due to development in coastal areas and the wildlife trade. Thus, Saudi National Center for Wildlife through rehabilitation programs and research studies aims to protect nesting sites of endangered sea turtles to maintain an environment in which they can thrive.The Saudi National Center for Wildlife, through such commitments, continues to set standards for sustainable development initiatives to lay the foundation for marine protection in all future development plans.