(MY) Turtle conservation

[Guest guest]

Sunday August 20, 2006 - The Star

 

Turtle conservation at the crossroads

 

*Guest Columnist Mohd Nizam Basiron*

 

*A*FTER more than 40 years of efforts to protect our four species of

turtles, the leatherback is for all intent and purposes locally extinct, the

Olive Ridley has shrunk in numbers, and the green and Hawksbill are under

increasing pressure from human activities and environmental changes. Why is

this so? What went wrong? What can we do?

 

There are many factors that contributed to the present situation. Where the

leatherbacks are concerned, a combination of inappropriate hatching methods,

poor management of turtle-related tourism and increased development in the

coastal zone was cited by experts as factors contributing to the decline of

landings and nesting in Rantau Abang.

 

Turtle conservation, however, is anything but simple. More often than not,

it involves factors outside of our control and understanding. For example,

because of the high temperature in hatcheries, most of the hatchlings

produced prior to 1993 were females. This resulted in an imbalance in the

ratio of male and female turtles, which in the long run affects the

opportunities for female leatherbacks to fertilise their eggs.

 

When the problem was recognised in 1993, efforts to correct this mistake

were negated by the decline in the number of eggs available for the hatchery

in Rantau Abang.

 

Similarly, the negative effects the once thriving turtle-watching industry

in Rantau Abang had on the leatherbacks were not recognised until after

there was a significant decline in leatherback landings in the area, which

in turn led to the downturn and ultimate demise of the activity in Rantau

Abang.

 

Turtle conservation in Malaysia is also affected by what is happening in

other parts of the region. While turtle conservation may be a concern in

Malaysia, it may not be as important in other countries.

 

Experts have noted areas where leatherback and other species of turtles are

still consumed for religious and cultural events.

 

The significance of regional cooperation in turtle conservation could not be

understated and Malaysia has been working with the Philippines to conserve

the turtles in the sea areas bordering the two countries.

 

The establishment of the Turtle Island is one of the many activities that

should be promoted to ensure that a common heritage is protected.

 

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and in turtle conservation

drastic as well as innovative steps may be necessary to address the decline

in turtle population and landings.

 

One drastic step suggested is the complete protection of all turtle eggs,

which would involve a complete ban on turtle egg consumption and sales.

Dramatic as it may sound this appears to be one of the most effective ways

to protect the turtles and has been successfully applied in Sabah and in

other parts of the world.

 

This is part of the effort to protect turtles at all stages of their life

cycle.

 

The complete protection of turtle eggs would need considerable cooperation

from the state governments, which have legal jurisdiction over turtle

conservation.

 

It is therefore important that a uniform set of legislation is developed for

application in all states where turtles land and nest, thus according the

turtles with common protection policies and practices.

 

Apparently a draft legislation has been in existence for a few years now,

and as such its acceptance should be hastened.

 

Important turtle nesting sites need to be protected. The move by the

Terengganu government to gazette more sites as turtle sanctuaries is a major

step towards enhancing turtle conservation.

 

Other states in the peninsula, however, have been less than responsive to

the idea and important nesting beaches in states like Malacca and Johor

remain unprotected.

 

More often than not, nesting beaches are located close to human settlements

and tourism facilities. Under such circumstances, an integrated approach to

coastal management would be crucial in ensuring the success of the

sanctuaries. We should not repeat the situation where nesting turtles are

turned away from beaches by " light pollution. "

 

It is not all doom-and-gloom where turtle conservation in Malaysia is

concerned, however.

 

The experience in Sabah is the reverse of what is happening in Peninsular

Malaysia. Apart from the regional efforts, Sabah has accorded complete

protection to all turtle eggs and has been rewarded with an increase in the

population of green turtles.

 

Sabah has also applied the lessons learnt from the Rantau Abang episode into

" turtle-tourism " in the state. Turtle-watching in Sabah is a well regulated

activity and tourists pay a premium to watch turtles land and nest in the

Turtle Islands here.

 

Malaysia also leads in turtle research with world-recognised experts at the

Sea Turtles Research Unit of the Kolej Universiti Sains dan Teknologi

Malaysia and the Turtle and Marine Ecosystems Centre of the Department of

Fisheries.

 

Turtle conservation in Malaysia is now truly at the crossroads. The results

of years of conservation efforts have not been very heartening although this

has not been for lack of trying. Recent reports of turtle mortalities and

the virtual extinction of the leatherback from our shores only serve to

underline the challenges turtle conservation in Malaysia faces.

 

The few leatherback nesting, as reported recently, is still a far cry from

the thousands of landings and nesting in the 1960s and 70s. The choices

before us are stark. Should we continue expending valuable and limited

resources on what is obviously a foregone extinction as far as the

leatherback turtles are concerned?

 

Perhaps these resources could be better used to restore the declining

population of the Olive Ridleys while at the same time maintaining and even

enhancing the populations of Hawksbill and green turtles lest they too go

the way of the leatherbacks.

 

In the final analysis, we may have to accept the fact that the leatherback

turtles may not be coming to our shores in great numbers anymore and that

the debate as to whether it has gone extinct in our waters is an academic

one.

 

What is more important is to put our best foot forward in the conservation

of the three remaining species.

 

This should not be too difficult to do given the resources that Malaysia has

at its disposal and the experts on turtle conservation in the country.

 

*Mohd Nizam Basiron is Research Fellow at the Centre for Coastal and Marine

Environment, Maritime Institute of Malaysia*