Guarding the World's Largest Loggerhead Nesting Beach on Masirah Island

Masirah Island off Oman's eastern coast hosts nearly 30,000 loggerhead turtles nesting each year, alongside hawksbill, olive ridley, and green turtles that use the island's beaches at different times of year. The Environment Authority's field teams survey an 84-kilometer stretch of coastline in daily morning and night shifts, tagging turtles, recording nests, and protecting hatchlings from predators, feral dogs, and light pollution. In early 2026 the agency tagged 77 hawksbill and olive ridley turtles during a single nesting season, part of a long-running tagging program that has documented individual turtles returning to the same beach to nest more than a decade apart.