On Wednesday, the 150kg turtle was released, to glide away through Gulf waters, after more than eight months of rehabilitation.

It took four men to heave her from the boat and  place her gently into the water, along with 16 baby hawksbill turtles, considered critically endangered.

The turtle release was part of a rehabilitation programme, coordinated by the Wildlife Protection Office and the Burj Al Arab Aquarium.

“She is big,” said Kevin Highland, an ecologist with the wildlife office.

“When she was found she was bobbing around on the surface. She wouldn’t eat and took more than two months of forced feeding before she could eat on her own.

“She wasn’t injured but she did have an infection that was treated.”

Warren Daverstock, operations manager at Burj Al Arab Aquarium, said the turtles were released about 15km directly out from Jumeirah beach, past shipping channels to “give them a 
head start”.

The aquarium along with the wildlife office have been running the turtle rehabilitation programme for five years now and this year have released 
68 turtles.

However, Highland said efforts to rescue and release turtles had been underway since about 1999.

“Ten years ago we were probably releasing 15 to 20 turtles a year,” he said.

“There’s no baseline data on turtle strandings.

“As the UAE’s population grows, the chances of them being spotted are higher and people are much more 
aware now.”

The causes for why a turtle might become stranded or found floating on the surface – which indicates a turtle is unhealthy – range from an injury, from a boat propeller, or entanglement.

The most common cause is generally called “cold stunning” which occurs during the colder months of January and February, when water temperatures can be about 16 to 17 degrees Celsius. “Why it affects one and not others we don’t know,” Highland said.

“But as soon as we bring them into warmer waters they begin to recover.

“We are studying the possible causes.” All turtles are tagged which enables them to be recognised should they be captured again.

A few are fitted with tracking devices which allows the scientists to better understand the turtles and the success of the rehabilitation programme.

“The data is being collected at the Wildlife Protection Office,” said 
Highland.

“The last turtle we tagged swam from Fujairah to Thailand – so I guess the rehabilitation helped.”

He said the turtles could be found throughout the Gulf and there were not any well -known breeding beaches. 

Jade, of a breeding age of older than 20 years old, was estimated to be over 40-years-old and possibly as old as 80-years-old.

Both Green turtles and Hawksbill turtles are in the same family, but the first are herbivorous while hawksbill feed on sea sponges and 
jelly fish.  

 zoe@khaleejtimes.ae