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Marine Turtle Newsletter 46:6-9, © 1989

Aerial Survey of the Baluchistan Coast (Pakistan)

Brian Groombridge
World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 219(c) Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, United Kingdom

Basic information is available on the important green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) population nesting on beaches south-west of Karachi (Kabraji and Firdous, 1984), but the situation on the extensive and remote Baluchistan coast has remained virtually unknown until recently. A preliminary beach survey near four coastal settlements in Baluchistan on 19-22 January 1987 (Groombridge et al., 1987) recorded important nesting at Ormara and Jiwani; a visit to Haft Talar island in December 1987 (A. L. Rao, personal communication) confirmed that dense nesting still occurs on one beach, as reported in the 1870's.

Much of the Baluchistan coast, which extends for more than 400 miles, appeared superficially to provide suitable nesting habitat and further investigation was required to locate any nesting beaches that remained undiscovered. An aerial survey was undertaken on 9-11 September 1988 in a 1950's De Havilland 'Beaver' (cruising speed: 100-110 mph; altitude: 50-100 feet). Route: Karachi to Pasni; Pasni to Jiwani and vicinity of border with Iran, return to Pasni; Pasni to Karachi. Most observations were made within two hours either side of high tide. With minor exceptions, the entire coast of Baluchistan Province was scrutinized at low level on two occasions, once in a westward direction and again on the eastward return journey. Small sectors of coast, each about five miles in length, were omitted in the extreme east and extreme west. Haft Talar was not surveyed.

Concentrated turtle nesting was observed only in Ormara (west side of Ormara West Bay) and around the Jiwani Peninsula. More diffuse nesting was observed on the coast west of the main Ormara site, particularly between Ras Sikani and Ras Basol. Elsewhere only a very few isolated nest pits or tracks were seen.

In the Ormara region, evidence of nesting was distributed along some 20 miles of coastline, from midway along the margin of Ormara West Bay eastward to the Kamgar Hills and, more sparsely, from Ras Sakani to Ras Basol. Dense nesting, with much of the beach entirely cratered by nesting pits, was taking place on the beach at the foot of the Kamgar Hills on the west side of Ormara West Bay, already identified as a major green turtle site during the 1987 survey; within this areas, most nesting was evident on a stretch some two miles in length situated immediately to the north of Tak village, with maximum density on about one mile of beach nearest to Tak. In January 1987, a sample beach transect in a zone of maximum density suggested that some 2,000 females may have nested at Ormara in the season then ending. It was impossible to count nest pits during the aerial survey, and although the 1987 estimate was no confirmed, the nesting population is certainly large.

On the Jiwani Peninsula, the beach below the mile-long lighthouse cliff south-east of Jiwani town was visited in the 1987 ground survey, when some 400 sets of tracks and abundant nest pits were seen on the half-mile section closely examined. This, combined with local reports of mass nesting in summer, suggested that the annual nesting contingent may number in the low hundreds. The aerial survey revealed four additional nest beaches along the south and south-west margin of the Jiwani Peninsula, three to the east of the lighthouse beach and one to the west. The total length of nesting beach is approximately four miles. Some 300 sets of fresh and recent tracks were visible on the Jiwani beaches, but nest pits were too dense to count. Overall, it seems likely that the annual nesting contingent at Jiwani is similar in size to that at Ormara. There is no nesting in the vicinity of Jiwani town, nor further west toward the border with Iran, where the littoral is extremely flat and low-lying.

The island of Haft Talar (=Astola) was not surveyed from the air. It was visited by Mr. A. L. Rao and Mr. Amjad of the Baluchistan Forest Department on 20 December 1987. The island, which approaches three miles in length by one mile in width, is mainly rocky and precipitous, but one mile-long beach on the western sector of the north coast held dense green turtle nesting. According to Rao (personal communication), the nesting density on the Haft Talar beach was similar to the highest density observed part at Hawkes Bay-Sandspit beach at Karachi. Incidental catch appears to be a problem in surrounding waters; one green turtle was released from nets during Rao and Amjad's visit.

No figures are yet available for nightly nesting density at any of the Baluchistan sites. Nesting density can be assessed qualitatively from the overall concentration of nest pits and the density of fresh emergence tracks (both can be compared with the Karachi nesting population), and from reports given by local inhabitants. Although the Karachi population remains incompletely known, around 1500 nests are laid annually on the three-mile stretch of beach which is most patrolled and where nesting is most dense (Kabraji and Firdous, 1984); this could correspond to an annual nesting contingent of some 500 females, and the entire beach might support in the region of 2,000 females per year. By comparison, it can be estimated that the major Baluchistan nesting beaches (Ormara, Jiwani, Haft Talar) collectively support a nesting contingent in excess of 2,000 females, at a minimum. Ormara, and perhaps Jiwani, may individually compare with the Karachi population. For example, reportedly "many thousands" of turtles were slaughtered at Ormara alone during 1975.

Present populations have been subject to heavy exploitation and may be much depleted. Exploitation may already have caused the extirpation of one nesting colony; during the present aerial survey, no signs whatsoever of nesting were observed anywhere in the Sonmiani region of Las Bela in the east of Baluchistan, although there is good evidence that nesting formerly occurred. Snead (1966) recorded that sea turtles nested on the Las Bela coastal plain. Rao (personal communication) was told by local villagers that turtles nested in the area. Mr. Ghani Barlas reported (personal communication) that his organization (Barlas Corporation) and its sister company (Kaiser Corporation), harvested sea turtles for the leather trade during the 1970's, and the Sonmiani area apparently supplied much of this trade. This evidence suggests that a sea turtle population nested in the Sonmiani area until at least the 1970's, but no longer does so, and commercial exploitation is probably implicated in its disappearance.

Close examination shows that, although most of the Baluchistan coast is lined with sandy beaches, the total length that is suitable physically to turtle nesting is relatively limited. Vast stretches of coast between the sites previously examined during the 1987 ground survey do not support nesting of any significance. Long stretches of beach are too narrow at high water to allow successful nesting, many are backed by high vertical cliffs. Long stretches appear very silty, with only a small depth of sand covering the underlying mud substrate, which can often be seen washing into the sea; such areas are likely to have an insufficient depth of sand to permit nest excavation and suitable conditions for egg incubation. On the other hand, approximately one-third of the Baluchistan coastline appeared to provide entirely suitable conditions for turtle nesting, but none was observed.

Financial support for this survey was provided by the IUCN Pakistan Programme; local arrangements were coordinated by Mr. Abdul Latif Rao, Conservator of Wildlife, National Council for the Conservation of Wildlife. Recent work on marine turtles in Baluchistan has been made possible by Mr. Rao, Mrs. Aban Marker Kabraji (IUCN Pakistan Regional Office), and the Baluchistan Government.

Groombridge, B., A. M. Kabraji, and A. L. Rao. 1987. Marine turtles in Baluchistan (Pakistan). Marine Turtle Newsletter 42:1-3.

Kabraji, A. M. and F. Firdous. 1984. Conservation of turtles, Hawkes Bay and Sandspit, Pakistan. Project Report. WWF and Sind Wildlife Management Board.

Snead, R. E. 1966. Physical geography reconnaissance: Las Bela coastal plain, West Pakistan. Coastal Studies Series No. 13, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA.