Qatar has managed and protected the sea environment through legislative and monitoring measures to ensure its sustainability and has played its role in international community’s efforts to deal with environmental challenges.
The endangered hawksbill turtle conservation is one of the most successful environmental projects in the country to preserve marine biodiversity. Under this project, 31,586 baby turtles were released during 2016-2021 in the protected area.
The project played a key role in protecting the turtles, raising awareness about them and preserving the environment. The project is being implemented at Fuwairit Beach. It is considered one of important nesting areas for sea turtles in Qatar as it is characterised by a unique sandy soil that attracts mother turtles to nest.
The project is being carried out under the supervision of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, which is funded by QatarEnergy and implemented by the Environmental Sciences Centre at Qatar University. The Centre has released the first young hawksbill turtles from the turtle reserve in Ras Laffan Industrial City. The Ras Laffan beaches hold significant importance in safeguarding the turtle population. The conservation of turtles, their eggs, and their offspring is implemented in Ras Laffan to mitigate the potential threat posed by indigenous avian and vulpine predators.
Hawksbills are named for their narrow, pointed beak. They are found mainly throughout the world’s tropical oceans, predominantly in coral reefs. They feed mainly on sponges by using their narrow pointed beaks to extract them from crevices on the reef, but also eat sea anemones and jellyfish. They are a fundamental link in marine ecosystems and help maintain the health of coral reefs and sea grass beds.
They move long distances from their feeding sites to nesting grounds – nesting on beaches in at least 60 countries. Hawksbills are critically endangered as humans collect their eggs, kill them for their meat and shells and they often get accidentally caught in fishing nets.
The protected area of the marine environment in Qatar covers more than 2.5% of the country’s total area. There is plans to increase marine protected areas to cover 30% of the country’s waters in the next 10 years. Qatar has implemented many projects to preserve marine biodiversity. It has expanded the mangrove areas, surveyed the seaweed cultivation, increased coral reefs, and islands and beaches have been organised for recreational value. Qatar is one of the richest GCC countries in terms coral reefs with about 48% of the total population in the Arabian Gulf region.
Coral reefs occupy only 0.7% of the ocean ground, but provide homes and vital nursery grounds for 25% of all marine species on the planet. Reefs also support 4,000 species of fish, 700 species of coral and thousands of plants and animals.
