(MY) tagging turtles

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Scientists tag turtle to track its movements-New Straits Times*30 Aug 2006*

Tan Choe Choe <news

 

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*MALACCA: Puteri Pulau Upeh will give scientists valuable information which

may help ensure the survival of her species, the highly endangered Hawksbill

turtle.

*

In a five-hour " operation " a satellite transmitter, which will track her

movements, was attached to her carapace — the first time a Hawksbill in the

Malacca Straits has been tagged.

 

Puteri is a healthy Hawksbill female weighing about 40kg that came up to

nest on Pulau Upeh on Monday night.

 

The operation was funded by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and overseen

by its Malacca Hawksbill Turtle Conservation Project team-leader Lau Min

Min, with the co-operation of the Malacca Fisheries Department.

 

" The information we get from the transmitter will be critical in helping us

protect the Hawksbills. If we do not know where they go and where they

forage for food, then we will not know how best to protect them and their

feeding grounds, " said Lau.

 

The RM8,000 transmitter, about the length of a red brick, has saltwater

switches at either end which will activate the transmitter whenever Puteri

comes up for air.

 

The location data is sent to a passing satellite on the Argos Satellite Data

Collection System, the main system used all over the world to track

wildlife.

 

Lau said Malacca was the main nesting site for Hawksbills in the Peninsula,

with over 200 nestings recorded here per year. However, the rapidly eroding

beaches along the coast of Malacca were threatening their survival.

 

" Pulau Upeh is one of its more important nesting sites. Over one third of

the Hawksbills nest here each year. Sadly, the island is not gazetted to

help conserve these turtles. " Malacca had no gazetted turtle nesting sites,

Lau added.

 

Hawksbills are also hunted for their beautiful dark brown, or yellow and

brown carapace, better known as bekko, which gleams like burnished gold when

polished and are in hot demand in Japan to make decorative items.