Rantau Abang's turtle population sharply decline<\/p>\n
Hazlin Hassan, Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Leatherback turtles are in danger of being lost forever from
\nMalaysia's famed Rantau Abang beach where thousands of the marine
\nreptiles previously came to lay their eggs.<\/p>\n
Only three landings of leatherback turtles were detected
\nduring the last nesting season between April and September last
\nyear, according to the Fisheries Department.<\/p>\n
\"The leatherback population is experiencing more than 99
\npercent decline if you compare it to 40-50 years ago,\"
\nKamarruddin Ibrahim, head of the department's turtle center told
\nAFP.<\/p>\n
The three landings are a pale shadow of the 10,000 recorded in
\nthe 1960s in the Rantau Abang turtle sanctuary on a stretch of
\nsandy beach in northeast Terengganu state.<\/p>\n
Kamarruddin's center is responsible for locating turtle eggs
\nlaid on the beach and replanting them in the center's incubator,
\naway from greedy poachers.<\/p>\n
Fourteen kilometers of the beach became a protected turtle
\nsanctuary in 1961 in an attempt to prevent the eggs being stolen
\nand eaten.<\/p>\n
But even with new laws passed in the 1990s banning the
\nconsumption of leatherback turtle eggs, the situation has not
\nimproved.<\/p>\n
\"We failed to recover any eggs from the three landings last
\nyear. They were most likely poached or eaten,\" Kamarudin said.
\nLau Min Min, scientific officer of the World Wide Fund for Nature
\nMalaysia told AFP turtle eggs were a traditional source of
\nprotein for locals.<\/p>\n
\"Before the ban, not many hatchlings got released into the
\nsea. Even if they did, the mortality rate of hatchlings is very
\nhigh. With every 1,000 released, only one will survive. And they
\ntake 30 years to mature,\" Kamarruddin said.<\/p>\n
A high number of leatherbacks and other turtles are also
\nkilled by getting trapped in fishing nets in Malaysian and
\ninternational waters.<\/p>\n
\"We've been tagging our turtles for 30 years. We receive
\nreports from countries like Japan, China, Taiwan, Borneo and the
\nPhilippines when they find our turtles drowned in fishing gear,
\nwhich happens too often,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The people of neighboring countries also hunt the leatherback
\nfor its meat or sacrifice it in religious rituals, he said.<\/p>\n
\"Uncontrolled tourism is also a factor. We could not control
\nthe crowds that gathered in Rantau Abang when turtles were
\nplentiful. The beach was open to everyone,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Min Min agrees the tourism industry boom contributed to the
\ndecline, with hotels and bright lights near the beachfront
\ncausing turtles to shy away.<\/p>\n
In the early years, up to 2,000 tourists would camp in the
\narea, build bonfires, and even ride on the backs of the turtles.
\nInept hatchery methods also caused their decline.<\/p>\n
\"We only now know the temperatures of 31-32 degrees Celsius
\nused at hatcheries around the country produced 100 percent female
\nturtles. So that means we have been producing female turtles
\nsince 1961,\" Kamarruddin said.<\/p>\n
Min Min supported this argument, saying that turtles would lay
\ntheir eggs either under vegetation, ensuring a cooler temperature
\nwhich would produce males or under direct sunlight to produce
\nfemales.<\/p>\n
This would also explain why no eggs were hatched in 2001,
\ndespite there being 21 detected landings.<\/p>\n
\"No fertilization or mating process took place, possibly due
\nto the lack of males,\" Kamarruddin said.<\/p>\n
Chan Eng Heng, a professor at the University College of
\nScience and Technology of Malaysia and a turtle conservationist,
\nhad predicted this sorry state of affairs in an article published
\nin 1996.<\/p>\n
An analysis of the number of nestings from 1960 to early 1990
\nshowed a steady decline, she said.<\/p>\n
\"Based on that, I predicted that leatherback turtle nesting
\nwill come to nothing by 2003,\" she said, adding that the zero
\nrecord came a year earlier than the prediction.<\/p>\n
Despite government efforts, not enough eggs were protected
\nbetween 1961 to 1987, she said.<\/p>\n
\"It is very sad. Rantau Abang used to be the prime location
\nfor leatherbacks in the world. I'm not sure if anything can be
\ndone now. There are no more eggs to protect. It's a bit too late
\nto rescue the leatherback,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Min Min agreed. \"There's no point in harping on about it. We
\nmust learn from this and save other species like the green turtle
\nand the hawksbill turtle before they suffer the same fate,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Both species are categorized as \"threatened\".<\/p>\n
WWF Malaysia is urging the authorities to take immediate steps
\nto ensure the safety of the two remaining turtle species, whose
\nnumbers are still \"good\" according to the fisheries department.<\/p>\n
This would include total egg protection, which is currently
\nlimited to the leatherback, control over fishing gear and opening
\nup more protected sanctuaries along the Terengganu coastline.<\/p>\n
On the leatherback, Kamarruddin outlined a new strategy to
\nincrease its dwindling numbers.<\/p>\n
\"We will gradually shut down our hatchery production and
\nreplace that with natural incubation. We will leave the eggs
\nwhere they are laid and deploy rangers to patrol the beaches.
\nIt's costly but we have to do it,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Tourism should be controlled. Not every turtle beach should
\nbe open to the public. Most should be turned into private or
\nsemi-private beaches,\" Kamarudin said.<\/p>\n
\"We expect this year's numbers to increase. There is a
\ntendency for numbers to fluctuate from year to year. Turtle
\nnesting is cyclical. It would be good one year and bad the next.
\nI expect this year to be better,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"We are not going to stop turtle conservation. It has been our
\ncommitment since the 1960s even through their continual decline.\"<\/p>",
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