Masirah Turtle Adventure!

A version of this article appeared in the Oman Observer on 12th September 2012

Recently I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks on the island of Masirah, volunteering on a turtle project. When I was contacted about it, I first had to look up exactly where Masirah was, and how to get there.  Surprisingly for somewhere with so much to boast about, the island is still relatively unknown.  With a small population centred in the town of Hilf, and accessible only by a 1.5 – 2 hour ferry journey from the mainland (and a long drive depending on your point of origin), Masirah remains somewhat inaccessible.   That is something to be grateful for and probably the island’s saving grace, for Masirah is much more than just a sleepy Omani outpost, the island is of real global significance as it is home to arguably the largest population of nesting loggerhead turtles in the world.  This is no small accolade and one that is not without responsibility.  Nature has blessed Masirah with four species of nesting marine turtle (loggerhead, green, hawksbill and olive ridley) and Oman must recognise and fulfill its duty to do everything in its power to protect these endangered species.

Masirah is still, thankfully, relatively unspoilt, but nonetheless human actions are already causing significant threats to the turtles, and this is only likely to worsen as increasing development takes place. 

Nature is already tough on turtles before man-made problems are even taken into account.   Turtle hatchlings have an incredibly difficult start in life and, witnessing at first-hand their battle to emerge from their nests and reach the ocean, it can be hard to imagine how any survive into adulthood at all.  

As a scuba diver I am used to seeing turtles underwater – where they move swiftly and with graceful ease.  Seeing them on land is a different experience entirely. It’s so abundantly clear how difficult the journey is for them. The large, heavy females drag their bodies up the beach in search of a suitable nesting spot, and many cover huge, exhausting distances before they even begin the process of digging, laying and covering their nests, before heading back to the sea. 

Here, at a new nest, the circle of life begins (or ends prematurely, depending on circumstance).  Turtle eggs are hugely vulnerable to predation by numerous animals, and humans have also been known to harvest eggs for consumption.  Furthermore, nests that are close to the shore can become water submerged causing the eggs to rot.  For those that survive to full-term, their troubles have only just begun.  The hatchlings have to dig their way out, orientate themselves and run the gauntlet of seagulls and crabs to reach the ocean.  Make no mistake - the seagulls and crabs on Masirah are vicious and plentiful - and nature has not been kind to hatchlings, making them a colour that is camouflaged neither on land nor in water.  For those that make it to the ocean currents, a whole host of new predators awaits and only very few will survive to reach an age where they can reproduce and begin the process again.  Loggerhead turtles (which are most abundant on Masirah) are deemed to have reached sexual maturity when their carapace (the hard shell) reaches a length of 90 cm or more.  Unbelievably, this can take up to 35 years!

Whilst nature might appear to have given turtles a raw deal, it is all part of the larger eco system, and the low turtle survival rates have been balanced out by the sheer number of eggs laid by individual turtles (100+).  Unfortunately though, that delicate balance is being destroyed by avoidable human actions that are putting the survival of the world’s sea turtles at serious risk.

dead turtle lost far from the ocean

In just the short time I was there, I witnessed a number of troubling incidents which raised concern over just how many turtles are dying needlessly. One adult female turtle was caught in a fishing net abandoned on the beach (2 of her flippers had become entangled). Luckily we were able to free her and she made her way back to the ocean. We also found a hatchling, which looked like it was emerging from a nest, but on closer inspection had become entangled in some plastic cord which was preventing it from moving. Again, on this occasion, we were fortunately able to save it.  In the space of 2 weeks I also saw three dead adult turtles on the beach. Following their tracks, the most likely explanation seemed to be that they got lost.  This is a common problem which can occur due to light pollution which plays havoc with a turtle’s internal navigation system. Turtles normally rely on natural light from the moon to help guide them to the sea, but artificial light can cause them to inadvertently navigate towards the source of that light, finding themselves lost far from the ocean.  Lost turtles will quickly dehydrate and die once the sun comes up.  On one evening we also witnessed a 4x4 parked on the beach right next to an adult female turtle, with its full-beam headlights pointing directly at her.  Whilst this may have seemed like an enjoyable outing for the occupants of the car, for the turtle it was a life-threatening experience.  As soon as we approached, the car sped off, but at least we were able to ensure the turtle found her way back to the water.  It makes me wonder how often this kind of selfish act goes by unnoticed.

turtle trapped in fishing line

another turtle life extinguished :-(

Turtles are officially protected in Oman by Royal Decree (which is great news), but the problem of course lies with awareness and enforcement.  I only saw one sign on the whole of Masirah with instructions for visitors to the turtle nesting beaches.  Whilst the content was good, the sign was falling apart and, with only one of them, how many people would happen to see it?  Anyhow, prohibiting people from doing certain things isn’t in itself useful unless there are consequences for those that disobey.  Whilst restricting access to the beaches would undoubtedly be unpopular with locals, it really does seem like a necessity if the turtles are to have a secure future.  Some simple fencing could prevent vehicle access and also stop the turtles straying into the road, whilst still leaving beaches open to the public.  The existing tar road already runs very close by the beach, along with several graded tracks. There really is no need for people to drive right down to the surf! 

visitor information sign

Masirah is a rugged island of exceptional natural beauty with a turtle population to be extremely proud of.  It is also home to an impressive number of bird species, including the endangered Egyptian vulture.  As is common to many island communities, the residents of Masirah seem closely bonded and somehow different to their mainland counterparts.  There is huge potential for eco-tourism on the island, but the prospect of it terrifies me as it has the scope to cause enormous and irrevocable damage unless it is extremely well managed.  Already there is a new luxury hotel on Masirah, and continued development in the name of ‘progress’ is likely.  The Masirah Island Resort, to be fair to it, is much more understated and low key than I expected, and their lighting (for a hotel) is very minimal.  I was also impressed to see information displays about turtles and other island wildlife in its lobby (something Ras Al Jinz could take note of).  Unfortunately though, and despite these efforts, the nearby turtles will still likely be adversely effected by the existence of the hotel.  I witnessed the effects at first-hand whilst assisting with a study on the impact of artificial light on turtle hatchlings.  Whilst data has not yet been analysed or reported, it was clear to see that the majority of hatchlings released on beaches in the vicinity of artifical light (streetlights, building light etc.) travelled towards the source of that light and hence away from the sea.  

Clean Up Oman - this weekend! 29th March!

This weekend (Thursday 29th March) will see Oman's biggest ever clean-up taking place nationwide! Here in Dhofar there will be 4 clean-up teams at the following places:

• Al Dahariz Beach, Salalah
• Next to Municipality Playground, Taqa
• East of Fisheries Harbour, Mirbat
• Next to the Mosque in Town Centre, Maqshan

Start time is 4.30pm. Please go along and help out and spread the word to your friends/family and colleagues.  This should be a fun event which will also raise much needed awareness of the problem of littering. Water, T-shirts and bin-bags will be provided to participants and the Municipality rubbish trucks will be there to collect the bin bags at the end.

 

To find out about other locations across Oman check out the Oman Clean Up group on facebook.

Dhofar Litter Bugs!

I was at Al Hafa beach yesterday, sipping a café latte and watching the ocean.  This is my first khareef season and it’s quite incredible to experience the change in the sea.  Our once calm, turquoise waters have transformed into a menacing, yet mesmorising, monsoon swell.  Talk about nature in action.  Here you really bear witness to the might of Mother Earth.

Watching ‘khareef TV’ is obviously a popular pastime.  All along the beach there are groups of people staring out into the distance, hypnotised by the waves and not caring that they’re being drenched in salty spray.  

So what was wrong with this perfect picture?! Well, apart from the young quad-biker hurtling down the pavement at a ridiculous pace, my concern lay with the vista below the surf.  Lower your gaze just a little and you soon become aware that you’re sitting in what can only be described as a giant ashtray! Cigarette smoking is arguably a disgusting habit at the best of times, but littering beaches with countless cigarette butts is truly filthy.  Don’t the polluters see the irony? They come to the beach to enjoy the beauty of their environment yet they have no qualms about discarding their rubbish there.

Cigarette butts might seem like the least of the littering problem, but they’re not just an eyesore, they can also do tremendous harm to marine life.  Invariably, the Al Hafa cigarette butts will end up getting washed into the sea. There they will leak their poisonous chemicals into the water as well as into the stomachs of unsuspecting fish, turtles and other marine creatures who were simply looking for a meal.  It seems that the ‘smoking is dangerous to health’ message is valid not just for humans!!

But where does this sense of entitlement to litter indiscriminately come from? Why is there such a culture of discarding things whenever and wherever?  I simply can not understand why anyone would want to turn their own recreational area into a rubbish tip!

In the short time I was sat at the café, I witnessed a group of Omani men at the table next to me throw their paper cups nonchalantly over their shoulders when they’d finished their tea.  No-one batted an eyelid.  Would you throw your empty plate on the floor in a restaurant? Is this really that different?  A similar thing happened at Mughsayl last week.  I was strolling along the walkway and a large family was walking towards me. We smiled at one another and exchanged a brief greeting.  The children then proceeded to throw their used plastic drinks bottles over the fence and into the sea below as they continued on their way.  I know this kind of behaviour is commonplace but I still can't help but be shocked by it.  It's so shameless, so blatant.  People flock to these beauty spots but see no irony in spoiling them. 

Is this attitude a result of being too used to having someone else clean up after you? Almost everyone here seems to have a housemaid. I guess if you’re used to your mess magically ‘disappearing’ then perhaps you somehow imagine the same thing happens outside of the home? Mess is somebody else’s problem!!

Whatever it is, it has to stop.  Parents are setting a terrible example for their kids and some kind of intervention is needed to stop this problem continuing for generations to come.  But what can we do to change a littering culture that is so deeply ingrained? It’s a difficult problem to tackle because it requires a real shift in attitude.  We can organise beach clean-ups but they’re only a very temporary solution and don’t get to the root of the real problem.  In fact in some ways they perhaps even reinforce the attitude that it’s OK to litter because someone else will clean it up.

There’s a real need for public awareness campaigns as well as education within the school curriculum so that children learn early on about the consequences of their littering actions.  From a practical point of view there also need to be more bins.  Let’s face it, if people can’t be bothered to walk more than 5 metres to a shop entrance then they’re not about to walk a multiple of that in order to find a rubbish bin.  Bins are fairly scarce around here at the best of times and it seems they may even be decreasing in number.  A friend I was chatting to over the weekend had just recently been up to Wadi Darbat and said that the bins that used to be there have been removed!! Why on earth would anyone get rid of them? If anyone knows anything more about this, please do enlighten us! Perhaps they’re simply about to replace them with European-style colour-coded sortable bins for recycling?! If only…

I think perhaps the most brazen littering I’ve yet seen here though was on a recent flight from Salalah to Muscat.  We were walking towards the plane when an abaya-clad lady simply bent down and placed her used teacup on the tarmac – right beside the aircraft! Does she have any idea how dangerous debris on a runway can be? I was completely gobsmacked.  The ground staff looked equally dumbfounded but, annoyingly, said nothing to her and simply picked up the offending item.  This is a big part of the problem here. Someone really needed to confront her about it and perhaps she’d think twice the next time.  It took only a 40cm piece of metal debris to bring down concorde, killing everyone on board.  Runway debris is an incredibly serious matter but one for which this particular lady had no regard.  Insha’Allah we will arrive safely! I’m getting angry again just thinking about it!!

So what can we do to turn Dhofar’s litter bugs into eco bugs? 

• Set an example by not littering yourself
• If you're camping/BBQ-ing at the beach or in the desert etc. always take your litter away with you
• Keep a rubbish bag in your car so you can pick up litter when you're out and about
• Educate the people you know - friends, family, students etc.
• Organise clean-ups - If you'd be interested in taking part in one please get in touch!
• Write to Dhofar Municipality to suggest more rubbish bins in prominent places and to encourage recycling facilities 
• Adopt a street or park to keep clean - a little bit of community pride works wonders!

Any more suggestions are warmly welcomed!!

 

Plastic, Fantastic?!

No, it’s not, as the title might suggest, a commentary on cosmetic surgery, but rather a look at the Omani love affair with plastic bags. Seriously, what is it with bags here? I have never before been to a country where their (over) use is quite so prolific and ingrained.  I challenge you to be able to leave a supermarket without one. It’s nigh on impossible even when, as I do, you take your own bags with you.  First you have to run the gauntlet of the customer services (read: security) desk who will try to take them off you, then, if you make it that far, the bag-packers will look at you with a mix of bemusement, confusion or contempt before bagging your items in plastic and then putting them in your re-useable bags.  Of course they will use at least one huge bombproof carrier bag for every two items. Thank you – how generous!

A recent visit to K&M is a case in point.  I was stopped by the vigilant (bored?) man at the desk who insisted I check-in my empty eco-bag. I tried to explain that I wanted to put my shopping in it but he insisted the offending item could not enter the supermarket.  Helpfully though he indicated that he’d bring the bag to me when I was at the till. So far, so good.  Of course he didn’t bother to come over (despite my frantic waving) till after everything was in a million plastic bags, at which point he packed all that plastic into my eco-carriers and looked very pleased with himself.  A job well done. Talk about missing the point!

Variations of the story repeat themselves all the time.  I have, however, discovered that in the new Lulu, if I fold my bags flat and tuck them under my arm, I can stride past the bag-snatchers unchallenged. Result!

Next port of call though is the fruit & veg section where apparently it is illegal to price an item of produce that isn’t in a bag.  God forbid the sticker should come into contact with the skin of a melon (which has probably been priced as a rambutan anyway, but I digress. Staff training on fruit/veg I.D. is a whole other topic!). Anyway, rules it seems are rules: no bag – no price – no purchase. A sticker can not and will not be attached directly to the product. Got it?!

And so to the till again…

I greet the lady in Arabic and ask how she is.  Nine times out of ten I get no reply. I find it astounding that they can so blatantly ignore me, but at the same time I can’t help but be impressed by their innate ability to hide even a flicker of acknowledgement.  Dhofari till ladies would be outstanding at poker!!  I try to maintain a smile despite having been snubbed and turn my attention to the packer.  My Arabic is basic to say the least but I do try my best to make myself understood, usually using both mime and words like “laa plastic” and “kull fee haathi” – which I hope means something along the lines of “everything in this” (pointing to re-useable bags).  I am still met with largely vacant stares but I’m getting better at showing them what to do.  I did for a while try packing my own bags but that seemed to go against some unwritten protocol and led to raised eyebrows and chatter amongst staff which I couldn’t interpret but invariably revolved around the weird Westerner.

The response from shop staff simply highlights though how rarely the request for ‘no plastic’ is encountered.  They are confused because it’s new to them.  In this regard the supermarkets themselves really need to take some responsibility.  Re-useable eco-bags need to be widely available and encouraged, and staff need training on how to pack effectively.  If we can’t get through to the supermarkets on an environmental argument, then hit them with profit.  Less plastic bags = less expense.  We should also support supermarkets charging a nominal fee for bags.  It’s amazing how quickly behaviour changes when cost is involved.  Ultimately though, shoppers also need to be educated on why these changes should be made.  If they feel like the supermarket is simply trying to save money then they’ll resent the lack of free bags.  What does the supermarket really have to lose here though?  Are people going to stop going to the new Lulu hypermarket because they don’t get a bag? I don’t think so!!  Lulu really has an opportunity here to lead the way and set a shining example.  They claim to be a “trendsetter of the retail industry in the region” so let’s hold them to it and push for change.  Words on corporate websites mean nothing unless they are translated into action.  Carrefour talk of “commitment to the environment” and “earning customer preference through social commitment and action” but last time I visited the branch in Muscat City Centre there were no re-useable bags in sight.  I know they produce them and I know Lulu does too, but try finding one.  They certainly haven’t made it to Salalah’s Lulu and they’re certainly not promoted in Muscat either.  Having a few hanging randomly by an isolated till is not enough.  The proof is at the exit where EVERYONE is walking off in a sea of branded plastic.  It’s like part of the uniform. Dishdasha, abaya, plastic bag!

I had a look at some Lulu bags today to see if there was any information on what type of plastic they were made from.  The small size bag simply has “keep your city clean” printed on it. A nice sentiment, but let’s face it - not one that anyone is listening to. (Littering is a real problem in Oman and one that I’ll address in a later post).  The large bag I was interested to see has a logo for d2w and says “this bag is totally oxo-degradable”.  Where I come from oxo is a stock cube(!) so I was intrigued and did a little research.  At first glance I was encouraged –  a green(ish) looking website with talk of plastic degrading and being bio-assimilated “faster than straw or twigs”.  However, my eye was drawn to an initial statement saying “all plastic will in time fragment and completely biodegrade” which didn’t ring true to me.  I’m no expert by any means (just a lay-person with an interest in our planet!) but my whole understanding of the problem with plastic is that it doesn’t biodegrade? It photodegrades – breaking down into increasingly smaller toxic particles that pollute soil, waterways and oceans and are ingested by animals, thereby entering the food chain.  Either way, I’m concerned that d2w bags are not as green as they might claim to be.  It turns out that oxo-bio plastic is not designed to degrade in landfill.  Now I don’t know anything much about rubbish collection or disposal here in the Sultanate but since most plastic bags probably end up as household waste, where does that waste go? Into landfill I imagine? Meaning the oxo-plastic wont degrade as intended.  If anybody knows anything different then please do enlighten me. I’d love to stand corrected!

I really do think the answer lies in recycling. To my knowledge though there are no recycling facilities at all here in Dhofar and only very limited recycling up in Muscat. Again, if anybody knows different please do share!

I read a statistic that says 6 million plastic bags are used every month in hypermarkets in Muscat alone. That number is truly staggering – and terrifying! Please take action!!

So what can we do?

• Say NO THANK YOU or LAA SHUKRAN to plastic!
• Use re-useable eco-bags for all your shopping (and re-use any plastic bags you still have)
• Write to the supermarkets to encourage the use of re-useable bags and support a charge on plastic
• Write to the Ministry of Environment & Climate Affairs to encourage a ban on plastic bags
• SPREAD THE WORD! Knowledge is power!