The programme for the protection and monitoring of turtles at Ras al Had Turtle Reserve in South Al Sharqiyah Governorate, continues until the end of December with the participation of more than 300 volunteers from across the Sultanate of Oman.

Ahlam bint Rashid al Miqbaliyah, head of the progrmme’s media team, said that the programme aims at protecting and monitoring turtles through several activities such as the cleaning of beaches, encouraging young people to engage in environmental campaigns to increase public awareness for not using lights within the reserve.

She explained that the idea of the programme was due to the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions imposed as precautionary measures to fight it over the past two years. This situation led to an increase in the number of people visiting the turtle reserve to watch turtle nesting and hatchlings without being aware of the instructions and rules of the reserve. This led to a loss of control over protection of turtles at the reserve.

The programme is held from Tuesday to Sunday every week with the participation of 30 volunteers distributed into 6 teams whose main task is to spread awareness about the rules and instructions that should be followed the visitors, Al Miqbaliyah said, adding that the Environment Authority seeks, through the programme, to prepare volunteers to carry out the role of protecting and monitoring turtles within the reserve through conducting workshops about the importance of the sea turtles and raising the public awareness about the issue.

Analytical research will be conducted at the end of the programme that includes data about the turtles that were monitored, the number of baby turtles that were returned to the sea, among other information, Al Miqbaliyah.