(MY) turtle nesting sites

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Turtle nesting sites plunge from 10,000 to one - New Straits Times*07 Jun

2006*

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*KUALA LUMPUR: The numbers are horrifying. Since the 1960s the number of

leatherback turtle nesting sites in Terengganu has plunged from 10,000 to

only one last year. As recently as 1984, there were 800 nesting sites.

*

This cloud does have a faint silver lining though. According to the

director of the Turtle Marine Ecosystem Centre (Tumec) in Rantau Abang,

Kamaruddin Ibrahim, about half-a-million hatchlings were released into the

ocean between 1961 and 2001.

 

He said that although these turtles had never been tracked from infancy to

adulthood, experts place the odds of female adults returning to lay eggs at

between one in 1,000 and one in 10,000.

 

" It is only a matter of time before the mature females return, " he said,

adding that turtles return to their birthplace every three to five years to

lay their eggs. So we can expect more landings in the coming years, during

the May to September nesting season. "

 

Leatherback turtles are listed as " critically endangered " by the World

Conservation Union (IUCN).

 

Aside from natural predation, threats to the leatherback include

over-fishing for their meat and shell, the poaching of their eggs, which are

considered a delicacy; and the destruction of habitat.

 

Although it is illegal in Terengganu, turtle eggs are openly sold in some

markets.

 

WWF-Malaysia programme officer Rahayu Zulkifli said that eggs are being sold

at Pasar Payang and at the night market at Kemasek for RM1.60 to RM2.50.

 

She said they are a status symbol, like shark's fin, and some consider them

an aphrodisiac.

 

Kamaruddin said that controlling the mortality rate of leatherbacks cannot

be done locally.

 

Adult leatherbacks tagged in Malaysia have been found dead, entangled in

fishing nets as far away as Japan and the Philippines, he said.