(MY) terengganu turtles

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Small steps key to saving giant turtles -malaysiakini.com

Jul 19, 07 7:35am Adjust font size:

 

Small and inexpensive steps could go a long way towards rescuing the

Western Pacific's dwindling population of giant sea turtles, an expert

said today.

 

 

Specialist Peter Dutton urged authorities to do more to preserve the

state of leatherback turtles' nesting beaches to ensure eggs are

hatched.

 

" The main issue here is there are eggs that are being laid but for

some reason, they are not hatching, " said Dutton, leader of the marine

turtle research programme at the United States National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

 

" But there are some relatively cheap things that can be done to get

the leatherbacks back on the road to growing their population, " he

told AFP from Malaysia's eastern Terengganu state, where NOAA is

holding a four-day conference to develop a long-term conservation plan

for leatherbacks in the region.

 

Leatherbacks were once a star attraction in Terengganu, where they

frequently nested. None have been sighted in the last few years and

overfishing, poaching and pollution have been blamed for killing them.

 

Recovers quickly

 

Leatherbacks are the largest turtles in the world and have been around

for the past 75 million years, going through cycles of near-extinction

and re-colonisation.

 

" The population recovers very rapidly in the period of 25 to 30

years, " Dutton said in a telephone interview from the conference.

 

According to data from the agencies organising the meeting, the number

of nesting leatherback turtles in the Western Pacific region has

plummeted to 5,000 from a once-thriving population of 91,000 in the

1980s.

 

Dutton said some of the biggest threats could be easily avoided, for

example by not using coastal fishing nets at turtle nesting areas, and

by giving coastal villagers economic incentives to protect the

leatherbacks.

 

- AFP