Oil Slick Hits Qeshm’s Hara Mangroves as War Fallout Threatens Turtle Nesting Grounds

Oil has reached the mangrove forests of Qeshm Island. Iranian environmental crews are working to contain a spreading slick that threatens one of the Persian Gulf's last hawksbill sea turtle nesting sites.

The pollution was first observed on the evening of 2 August on Suza Beach near the village of Shib Draz, where a dark band of oil stretched for about one kilometre along the shoreline. In the ten days since, the slick spread from the island's southern shore into the Hara reserve, a protected mangrove ecosystem near Naghasheh village. Satellite imagery confirmed the oil had entered the mangrove zone by 12 August. A separate slick was also moving toward Oman's coast.

The slick's origin has not been officially confirmed. TankerTrackers.com, which monitors global shipping, said the pollution appeared to come from an Iranian attack on the bulk carrier Minoan Pioneer, struck in Omani waters on 3 August. Iran's official news agency IRNA said the cause would be announced only after expert assessment and agency reports were finalised.

The Hara mangroves are a UNESCO-listed biosphere reserve. Hawksbill sea turtles use the beaches and shallows of Qeshm's southern coast as nesting grounds during the summer months, when the oil has arrived.

Environmental damage has been building for months. At least 70 per cent of Hormozgan Province's coastline was already affected by oil contamination as of May, a result of repeated attacks on shipping in the strait. Qeshm, at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, sits in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

MarineRadar recorded 188 unique devices tracking in the Qeshm County grid over the 48 hours to 12 August.