Sunday 21 / June / 2026
Muscat: Specialists from the Environment Authority’s centre in the Wilayat of Masirah island, South A’Sharqiyah Governorate, spotted a loggerhead female turtle during regular monitoring of the beach in Al Aijah area along Oman’s eastern coast island.
Ghassi Hamad Al Farsi, Environmental Monitoring Supervisor at the Environment Centre in Masirah, said that the turtle had been tagged at the same location 12 years ago during the 2014 nesting season. The find 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. The loggerhead turtles show strong attachment to their original nesting sites, an innate habit 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 its last documentation.
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 follows up in the long term within the programme of nesting beach management on Masirah Island.
