(MY) turtle extinct

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Famed turtle virtually extinct in Malaysia - Malaysiakini on line website

 

Aug 8, 06 5:20pm

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The iconic leatherback turtle is virtually extinct in Malaysia, and there

are fears their numbers are on the decline worldwide as habitats vanish,

according to a United Nations report.

 

The report released through the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says the

population is also waning due to legal and illegal egg harvesting and turtle

hunting, while global climate change could affect breeding.

 

Malaysia, which in past years offered turtle nesting as a tourist attraction

in eastern Terengganu state, offers one of the " most dramatic " examples of

decline in a marine turtle population, it says.

 

" Whereas leatherback turtle nests along the Terengganu coastline used to

number in the thousands in the 1960s, in recent years only a handful of

infertile nests have been laid, " said a UNEP statement late Monday.

 

" That population is effectively extinct, depriving Malaysia of one of its

most charismatic tourist attractions, " it said.

 

According to the report, Malaysian leatherback rookeries have declined from

approximately 5,000 nests per year in the 1960s down to less than 10 nests

per year so far this decade.

 

*Conservation efforts hindered*

 

The report, prepared under an inter-governmental initiative to save marine

turtles, said leatherback nests are found in four main areas in the Indian

Ocean and Southeast Asian region - a span which includes South Africa, Sri

Lanka, Malaysia and eastern Australia.

 

But a lack of basic information about the leatherbacks, such as where they

feed and their migration routes, is hindering conservation efforts, while

global climate changes could affect populations, the report says.

 

" Rising beach temperatures associated with global warming can be expected to

alter population sex ratios and affect incubation success of leatherback

turtle eggs, " said the report's coordinator from Australia's James Cook

University, Mark Hamann.

 

" Few countries have adequate monitoring systems in place to help guide

management practice in response to climate change, " he said in the

statement.

 

A companion report has also found that leatherback populations are under

pressure after the December 2004 tsunami destroyed or damaged nesting

habitats in eleven countries.

 

" India, Thailand and Sri Lanka were the worst affected, with some nesting

beaches having been completely destroyed, " said the statement.