Turtle revisits Masirah Island 12 years after first being

MASIRAH: Specialists from the Environment Authority’s centre in the Wilayat of Masirah, Al Sharqiyah South Governorate, recently spotted a loggerhead female turtle during regular monitoring of the beach in Al Aijah area on the island.

Ghassi bin Hamad al Farsi, Supervisor of the Environmental Monitoring Department at the Authority’s Environment Centre in Masirah, said that the turtle had been tagged at the same location 12 years before, during the 2014 nesting season. The spotting of the turtle consolidates the records of this species of sea turtles along the shores of Masirah.

Al Farsi pointed out that observation of the turtle’s return to the beach affirms a scientifically established habit in the behaviour of this species of marine creatures. Loggerhead turtles show strong attachment to their original nesting sites, which is an innate instinct known as site fidelity.

He explained that the monitoring of the loggerhead turtle indicates that the female is still in an active reproductive state, more than a decade after it was last documented.

The documentation forms part of the 2026 nesting season’s field data on the sandgrouse species. It adds to the database of tagged turtles that the Environment Authority is following up in the long term within its programme of nesting beach management in Masirah Island. — ONA