Karachi:
The 2025-26 playback season for green sea turtles has officially started, and is already doing waves! In a moving show, the Sindh Wildlife Department launched 104 baby turtles to the Arabic sea last night, marking the beginning of its incredible journey to nature.
Every year, from mid -August to the end of February, female green turtles arrive at the Karachi beaches, especially Hawke’s Bay and Sandspit Bay, to put their eggs. According to Ashfaq Ali Memon, head of the Marine Turtle Division, more than 5,500 eggs have already been carefully placed in protected nests this season.
But this story has a bittersweet tone. Only two decades ago, seven species of sea turtles were found along the coasts of Sindh and Baluchistan. Today there are only two left. Among the disappeared is the Olive Ridley turtle, which has not been seen alive on the Karachi coast since 2010, although unfortunately, some have been washed lifeless.
Experts are deeply concerned about environmental and human pollution, pollution, commercial activity and recreational disturbances, which have moved these majestic creatures away. Why the abandoned Sandspit of Olive Ridley remains a mystery that continues to baffle marine biologists.
Even so, Hope shines in the sand. Female green turtles continue to visit not only the sand point and Karachi paradise, but also the coastal gems of Baluchistan such as Jiwani, Gwadar, Ormara, Pasni, Dheeran, Beach French, Mubarak Village, Cape Manze and Churna Island.
The nesting ritual is a wonder of nature. Under the cover of the night, the female turtle selects a place, uses its rear fins to bury in the sand and cava a nest of approximately 3 to 3.5 feet deep. The eggs are incubated for 45 to 60 days before the offspring arise and make their career to the sea.
This seven -month cycle, from August to February, is a testimony of resilience, survival and magic of life on the coast of Pakistan.
