More about turtle conservation...

I could not help but to post my senior's email on her turtle conservation work under WWF. Pls read, as I cannot deliberate how much important their work and our behavior towards those poor turtle coming to our beaches.

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Thanks all for your comments. What you all say are true. We in WWF believe strongly that conservation doesnt just mean working hands-on with the species on the beach. It also involves working closely with the people, because many of the threats faced by the environment & makhluk di dalamnya, are all mainly anthropogenic (caused by humans). For example, makan telur penyu, guna pukat (penyu tersangkut & mati lemas), building of chalets & tomyam stalls on nesting beaches, etc. A good example is in Melaka. A hawksbill once crossed the road to nest under someone's house because the beach was too degraded, too bright & too noisy.

For me here in Kerteh, my team & I work closely with the local community, the villagers, fishermen, school kids, teachers, etc. It is very challenging, drove us up the wall many times, but it is also very rewarding when you see behavioural changes among the local community.

Someone recently donated us some money, so we are going to use that money to buy turtle eggs from the egg collectors so the eggs can hatch. Someone asked why didnt I guy the turtle eggs from the makcik pasar malam? Tak guna beli masa tu because after 2 hours of oviposition (bertelur), the embryo would have formed. Any rough handling/movements/rotation of the eggs would have caused the embryo to die. Telur yang makcik tu jual entah dah berapa hari, kalau beli pun tak guna. So kalau nak beli for incubation, kena beli masa masih fresh lagi.

Now we are on to the 2nd phase of our work - providing alternative source of income to the local community. InsyaAllah, with new funding, we will be introducing turtle based eco-tourism here which we hope will benefit the local community so they in turn will actively protect the "goose that lays the golden eggs". But we have to be careful that this eco-tourism project wont turn into another disaster like Rantau Abang 30 years ago.

We are also going to deploy satellite transmitters on 4 turtles this year insyaAllah to track their migratory paths and their feeding habitats. You all know yes, that turtles migrate hundreds if not thousands of kilometres between the nesting beach & their foraging habitat? Therefore we need to protect not just the nesting beach, but also the foraging habitat and their migratory routes. How do we know where they are? By studying the signals they transmit each time they surface to breathe.

So kawan kawan, jangan lah kita makan telur penyu. The eggs are toxic. A study has shown it contains heavy metal, E.coli, salmonella, can cause cancer, ceret beret & kidney problems. I tak tau hukum makan telur penyu per se. Tapi  kalau sengaja makan apa apa yang membahayakan kesihatan - bukan haram hukumnya?

And then there is the conservation aspect of it. In a healthy population you need to incubate 70% of all eggs laid. But is the population healthy? Far from it. Out of 4 turtle species we have in Malaysia, 2 species are critically endangered, the other 2 endangered. To sustain an already endangered population, you need to conserve 100% of the eggs. Remember the survival ratio at best is 1 egg in every 1000. We must therefore ensure as many eggs are possible are incubated, and not sold in markets.

So kalau nak sangat makan telur penyu, beli bola ping pong and letak hingus dalam tu, add a bit of sand. Sorry I have to be gross. But I hope that description will deter anyone from wanting turtle eggs.
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Side note: Thanks kak ayu for sharing!

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Best Regards,
Noradlina
http://rafdina.blogspot.com/