Dubai releases 23 sea turtles, including missing a front flipper named Foxy

Dubai: On a warm Friday morning, 23 sea turtles made their way back to the ocean from the Dubai coastline. The release happened on June 12, a few days ahead of World Sea Turtle Day on June 16, timed around the right tide and weather conditions. But the significance of the moment was 22 years in the making.

Since 2004, the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project (DTRP), run by Jumeirah Al Naseem in partnership with the Dubai Environment and Climate Change Authority, has rescued, rehabilitated and returned more than 2,350 sea turtles to the wild. The 23 released this week, 22 green turtles and one hawksbill, brought that number to 2,351.

Tucked within that group was a milestone the team had been quietly counting towards: the 100th turtle to be released with a satellite tracker. That turtle was Foxy.

Foxy is a green turtle with only one front flipper. She was found by a fisherman off the coast of Ras Al Khaimah in January last year, her injury already significant by the time she was discovered. By chance, Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project Ambassador H.E. Sheikh Fahim Bin Sultan Bin Khalid Al Qasimi happened to be in Ras Al Khaimah at the time and drove the turtle back to Dubai himself.

Speaking at the release, he reflected on what made this moment particularly meaningful. "Five years ago I stood here and released a turtle with one flipper. Five years later, we saved Foxy, I actually found the turtle in Ras Al Khaimah. She is a green turtle that was missing a front flipper, and we are very proud to have a tracking programme that will follow her journey."

Barbara Lang-Lenton, Executive Director of Biodiversity at Jumeirah, described Foxy's road to recovery. "We had to do surgery to repair the damage, and she has been with us since January last year. It has been a long recovery. But she is really strong, and we really want to know what she does and where she goes next."

Joining Foxy on her journey back to the ocean was Fatima, an adult female green turtle and the largest animal in Friday's release.

Rescued from Abu Dhabi waters in November last year, Fatima arrived with buoyancy issues that required months of critical care before she was strong enough to move to the rehabilitation lagoons.

She spent her final weeks regaining weight and muscle strength, and is now fitted with a satellite tracker that the team hopes will reveal where she heads next. "Green turtles do not nest in the Gulf, they nest on the East Coast," said Barbara. "We have had occasions where animals go straight to their nesting grounds after release. She is a very interesting one to track."

Known affectionately by conservationists and coastal communities across the UAE as the Turtle Sheikh, Sheikh Fahim has made marine wildlife protection one of the defining causes of his life.

Sheikh Fahim's connection to marine conservation did not begin in any official capacity. It began underwater, five years ago, when he was free diving at a remote island and found a turtle tangled in fishing line and drowning.

"I swam down seven metres and rescued her," he said. "I did not know what to do, so I called the authorities, and they ended up sending the turtle here to Jumeirah. Eighteen months later, we ended up releasing her. And since then, I have had the privilege to be the ambassador of this project."

That first rescue became the foundation of something much bigger. Sheikh Fahim went on to help create 800-TURTLE, the UAE's dedicated hotline for reporting sick or injured sea turtles. "People were calling me or texting me or reaching out on Instagram saying they had found a turtle and did not know what to do," he explained. "I realised we could create a really efficient system to coordinate rescues across the whole country. When you call 800-TURTLE, the team works tirelessly to coordinate the rescue, bring the turtles in safely, rehabilitate them, and then we get to release them on days like today."

He is also deeply aware of what each release represents beyond the individual animal. "These creatures do not belong to the UAE, nor to the region. They travel across oceans. A turtle we save here could be a turtle that came from Southeast Asia or Africa. That is what highlights the global impact of this work."

Between rescue and release, every turtle passes through a carefully managed rehabilitation process. Critical care takes place at Jumeirah Burj Al Arab's aquarium facilities, before the animals move to purpose-designed lagoons for the final stage of recovery.

"The lagoons are thriving with marine life," said Barbara. "There are fish that have been in there for 10 years, things growing on the rocks, and all the lagoons have caves because turtles like to go and sleep under caves. This is also very useful for turtles that have buoyancy issues, so they can start compensating and recovering. There is also a lot of natural food in the lagoon. We feed them once a day to make sure they are all active and eating, and we monitor their swimming behaviour, especially the ones that are missing flippers or have issues with their buoyancy. We monitor their weight and their health until they are ready to be released."

Not every turtle can return to the ocean. Humpty and Dumpty, two female green turtles who have lived at the rehabilitation lagoons at Juemirah Al Naseem which was built 10 years ago, were both struck by boats when they were young. The injuries left them permanently positively buoyant, making it impossible for them to dive and find food in the wild.

The team fitted them with carefully calibrated weights to help them swim as normally as possible. They cannot be released, but they have become much-loved residents of the lagoon.

Free daily turtle talks and feeding sessions take place every morning at 11am at Jumeirah Al Naseem Turtle Lagoon, with a second session on weekends at 3:30pm, open to the public with no booking required.

If you spot a turtle floating at the surface without moving, or stranded on a beach covered in barnacles, do not try to remove anything. Call 800-TURTLE. "Just be really conscious citizens of this planet," said Sheikh Fahim. "Be conscious of plastic waste. Be conscious of the ocean. And if you find a turtle that needs help, call us. We will come."

The programme has been running for 22 years. Foxy is number 100 to carry a tracker into the open ocean. Her journey is only just beginning.