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Marine Turtle Newsletter 110:6-7, © 2005

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

First Sea Turtle Tagging Programme in Iran

Asghar Mobaraki & Amir Mohammad Elmi
Department of the Environment, Wildlife and Aquatic Affairs Bureau, P.O.Box
5181-15875, Tehran, Iran
(E-mail: amobaraki@yahoo.com, ae_1342@yahoo.com)

Some of the small islands in the Persian Gulf are thought to be important nesting sites for the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata (Mobaraki 2004a). There is not, however, sufficient information available to assess the status of this population. Five years ago we began some studies and activities are now underway at the main sites such as Shidvar, Ommolkaram, Nakhillo and Queshm Islands (Mobaraki 2004a; 2004b). As there has not been any population study on the hawksbill turtles in the country, we initiated a tagging programme with assistance from the IOSEA secretariat. We used Stockbrands’ Titanium flipper tags with the address of “Dep. of Environment, P.O.Box 5181-15875, Tehran, Iran” and numbering from 0001 to 1000. During April- May 2005 we conducted short visits to Shidvar (4 days), Hengam Islands (Hormozgan province; 2 days), Ommolkorm (2 days) and Nakhiloo Island (Booshehr province; 3 days). During these visits we recorded 50 tracks, and encountered 36 hawksbill turtles of which 16 nested and all were tagged. We measured and weighed females and recorded clutch size, and mean egg weight and diameter for 15 eggs in each of 16 study clutches (see table 1).

We are planning to increase our tagging effort in 2006, covering sites more frequently, covering more nesting sites and providing tags for our provincial offices and training more staff. In addition, nesting of green turtles in the Oman Sea area starts in mid-Summer and we hope to cover the main sites and find more turtles. If possible we would like to tag turtles in the feeding grounds too.

Although we only had short trips to the Islands, the numerous tracks indicate that many turtles nest at these sites. We recorded few threats to this population during our surveys; most of the Islands are uninhabited; there are no natural mammalian predators on the eggs and turtles. During our field trip to Ommolakram Island however, we did release one hawksbill turtle that we found entangled in fishing net. Considering the few threats recorded we hope that conservation efforts in the region will have a considerable impact on this population. Conducting these activities would require additional financial
support, which we are currently seeking.

Acknowledgment: We would like to acknowledge Mr. Douglas Hykle and the secretariat of MOU-IOSEA for their help and efforts and for providing tags. Without their help, it would have been impossible to initiate this project. We would also like to thank Dr. Colin Limpus for his advice, Stockbrands Company and the Wildlife and Aquatic Affairs Bureau for their kind and considerable support and Mr Ali Bali for his help in producing the map.


Figure 1.Map of study area.

MOBARAKI, A. 2004a. Nesting of the hawksbill turtle at Shidvar Island, Hormozgan Province, Iran. Marine Turtle Newsletter 103:13

MOBARAKI, A. 2004b. Marine Turtles in Iran: Results from 2002. Marine Turtle Newsletter 104:13