The sandy beaches of South Lebanon are a crucial nesting ground for sea turtles.This year, 2,500 sea turtle hatchlings safely reached the Mediterranean from Al-Mansouri Beach, a key nesting site near the city of Tyre, according to a volunteer group that has been tending the beach and its turtles for two decades.Despite the escalating conflict with Israel and the prevailing climate of fear, the volunteers continued their efforts to protect both the animals and the beach.On Sept. 23, the leader of the volunteer group told Mongabay she had to flee her home in Tyre after surviving several Israeli air strikes.
BEIRUT — Baby loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) made their way from their sandy nests in South Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, their flippers seemingly too large for their tiny bodies. Videos circulating on social media show these vulnerable creatures being carefully guided by a group of dedicated people to ensure they reach the water safely.
Between mid-June and mid-September, such scenes regularly occurred at Al-Mansouri Beach, south of the city of Tyre, even as war loomed audibly in the background. The people, part of a volunteer group that has been tending the beach and the turtle nests there for two decades, continued their work this nesting season undeterred by the violence around them.
A series of cross-border attacks between Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian Shia party in Lebanon, and Israel have spiraled since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October 2023. In South Lebanon, more than 600 people had been killed, including at least 147 civilians, as of Sept. 20, and more than 111,000 had been displaced from their homes, according to the latest figures from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Numbers have risen sharply since the recent escalation in which Israel detonated pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah militants and struck hundreds of targets, killing more than 500 additional people across the country including many civilians as of Sept. 23, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. In northern Israel, conflict with Hezbollah has killed dozens and displaced tens of thousands, according to Al Jazeera.
Al-Mansouri Beach in South Lebanon is one of five key sea turtle nesting sites in the country. Volunteers have been documenting and protecting nests there for two decades. Image courtesy of Fadia Jomaa.
A loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in Lebanese waters. Image courtesy of Fadia Jomaa.
As the violence descended upon South Lebanon, accompanied by the deafening roar of Israeli jets breaking the sound barrier, the volunteer team began to worry about the impact on Al-Mansouri Beach and the turtle nests there.
“While the war hasn’t directly affected the turtles, it has disrupted our work,” Fadia Jomaa, a journalist and environmental activist who has been leading the Al-Mansouri Beach volunteers since 2016, told Mongabay in a phone interview during the nesting season in August, before the recent escalation in violence. “We can’t always reach the beach early or stay for long periods, particularly during night shifts.”
Every morning at 5 a.m., Fadia and other caretakers monitored the turtles’ movements on the beach. “Despite the challenges, we continue to access the beach daily, both morning and evening, from various areas to ensure the turtles and the beach are protected,” Jomaa said in August, noting that this commitment persisted despite the sonic booms and the bombardments and fighting that were occurring daily on the outskirts of Al-Mansouri.
The team placed iron cages over the nests to safeguard the eggs from predators like dogs and foxes and potential vandalism by beachgoers. “It’s well known that only one in a thousand baby turtles will survive adulthood and return to the same beach to lay eggs. This underscores the critical importance of protecting these beaches from encroachment and development, as they are vital habitats for creatures that will one day return,” Jomaa said.
Fadia Jomaa (center) watches sea turtle hatchlings emerge from a nest on Al-Mansouri Beach along with fellow volunteers and children. Jomaa leads a group of volunteers who tend the beach and the nests there. Image courtesy of Fadia Jomaa.
In 2019, monitoring of marine turtles along the Lebanese coast identified Al-Mansouri Beach as one of five key nesting sites in Lebanon. That year, 77 nests were recorded in all of Lebanon, with the majority — 55 nests — in southern Lebanon. Loggerheads occupied 74 of the nests.
“Unfortunately, numerous threats like urbanization, human activities and pollution persist,” Rami Khashab, a biologist and consultant specializing in the conservation of reptiles and sea turtles in Lebanon who is originally from Al-Mansouri village, told Mongabay. A 2006 study also highlighted a “lack of awareness about sea turtles” but noted that people exploiting turtles and their eggs “does not appear to present a major problem.”
This year, Jomaa and her team began monitoring the beach in May. “We managed to protect, conceal and monitor 51 nests,” she said. By the end of the nesting season in mid-September, 2,500 baby turtles had made safe passage to the sea.
War or no war, sea turtles instinctively return to the beach to lay their eggs. For Jomaa and Khashab, there is a silver lining amid the darkness. Just as during the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, fewer people have been visiting the beach this year, leading to an increase in the number of nests observed: This year, they counted 10 more than in previous years.
For Jomaa, protecting nature is political. “We risk our lives daily to protect nature and our homeland,” she said. “I see it as a form of resistance against the war.”
On Monday, Sept. 23, Jomaa told Mongabay she had to flee her home in Tyre after surviving several Israeli air strikes. She found shelter farther north in Lebanon.
Rami Khashab, a biologist and consultant specializing in the conservation of reptiles and sea turtles in Lebanon, logs hatched eggs in a nest. Image courtesy of Rami Khashab.
Banner image: A loggerhead turtle hatchling on Al-Mansouri beach. Image courtesy of Fadia Jomaa.
Saving sea turtles in the ‘Anthropause’: Successes and challenges on the beach
Citations:
Aureggi, M., Khalil, M., Cross, H., Kasparek, M., Rizk, C., & Venizelos, L. (2006). Five years of Marine turtle conservation effort in Lebanon: monitoring and awareness. In Book of abstracts: 26th annual symposium on sea turtle biology and conservation : Island of Crete, Greece, 3-8 April 2006.
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