Leatherbacks 'gone', so save others

Friday, 18 January 2008

KUALA TERENGGANU: It may be too late for the leatherback turtle population here, but there is still hope for the green and hawksbill turtles. Calling the effective extinction of the leatherbacks a sad reality conservationists must accept, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) turtle and rehabilitation group leader Professor Chan Eng Heng said no landings of leatherback turtles were recorded last year. And in 2006, the United Nations Environment Programme reported that the species was effectively extinct in Malaysia. "I think it's best we turn our attention to the green and hawksbill turtles before they share the same fate. And let's not forget the river terrapins which are also threatened. "The first two things we can do is to ban the sale of their eggs and educate the public," she said yesterday after a presentation on 15 years of conservation work by Turtle Aid Malaysia (Tamy). Tamy, formerly known as the Sea Turtle Research Unit, is headed by Chan. It is a programme run by UMT. It was renamed to include river and painted terrapins, which are also part of the turtle family. In her presentation, Chan said Tamy's conservation efforts had been an "excellent success". It was instrumental in getting several sites in the state gazetted for turtle landings, increased the level of awareness among the public and helped to protect turtle eggs and raised the percentage of green and hawksbill turtle eggs hatched. Since 1993, almost half a million eggs from nearly 5,000 nests were incubated, and 359,590 hatchlings from both species were produced. Tamy has created a volunteer programme, called the Sea Turtle Outreach Programme, which raises funds for the project through nest and turtle adoption programmes. Since its inception in 1998, more than 1,000 local and 100 foreign volunteers have joined up. Read the full article Source from The News Straits Times