Activity of IGCAUS,
Environmental Clubs

11 SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES

14 LIFE BELOW WATER

Our team decided to visit New York University of Abu Dhabi

and attend a lecture on turtle  patrol.

The beaches of Saadiyat Island welcomes the Hawalbill Turtles during the spring and summer seasons.

These turtles lay their eggs on the beaches after a really long process of getting familiar with the region

then making sure the area is safe to lay their eggs in.

Turtles dig a hole to lay their eggs and cover the eggs with sand for safety.

This hole is referred to as a nest.

 The information session is part of a volunteering program where we studied about

what we should do if we ever come across those turtles’ nests since they are considered endangered species.

The reason why these species are threatened is that trucks that are used to clean the beaches

or for construction purposes start operating in early mornings.

These trucks destroy those turtles’ nests.

Another interesting fact we learned is that the number of female turtles in the UAE is

higher than male ones because of the warm temperatures of the water.

The baby turtles tend to be born females when the sea water is warmer than usual.

Warm seas are a result of global warming or the location of the region.

In the lecture, we discussed how every morning about 4 to 6 volunteers would start

walking on the beach shores looking for the turtles’ nests and securing the area for protection.

We also learned how to differentiate between turtles’ tracks and other animals’ trails to easily find those nests.

The two main kinds of turtles in the UAE are the Hawksbill turtles and the Green turtles.

There is a program in the UAE called "The National Plan for Action for the Conservation of Marine Turtles"

in the UAE 2019 -2021 which was designed to protect those turtles. This plan was designed avoid the extinction of those turtles.

 In the lecture, we were given the timings which ranged between 4:30 AM and 5:30 AM to choose from.

The beach was divided into three different sections: A, B, and C.

The six volunteers were divided into twos and each pair was given a different section of the beach.

Each section requires one hour and a half to walk.

An email was later sent that evening to divide the work between the audience that attended.

The volunteering program had already started at the end of March and is expected to last until the end of April.