Sea Turtle Species
Spesis Penyu yang mendarat di pesisiran pantai Terengganu.The endangered leatherback turtle has made a surprise return to nest in Malaysia where they were afraid of being wiped out, but experts are worried the precious eggs do not hatch. After a no-show last year, the rare giant turtles have nested twice on the Rantau Abang beach Terennganu in the north of the state, 23 and 24 June "It's exciting for us and gave us new hope in our conservation efforts," said Munir Mohamad Nawi, director of the state fisheries department. "We assume that (approximately), two more women arrive to nest. Two years ago, we had five nesting sites for leatherback turtles," he told AFP, adding that none of the eggs collected then produced baby leatherback. Workers in state and Marine Ecosystem Center Turtle hatchery have recovered just 41 eggs from the last two nests, less than half what was expected. "It's unfortunate. At the first nest, there were no eggs at all and we were lucky to find 41 eggs in the second," said Munir. He said it was likely that the eggs have been poached by locals who sell them illegally in neighboring markets. The sale of leatherback turtle eggs is prohibited in the state, but those of other species of sea turtles may be sold and consumed. Leatherbacks are the largest of all sea turtles and have been around for the past 75 million years, surviving cycles of near extinction. In Terengganu, the only place in Malaysia were the leatherback nesting turtles were once a star nearby, but overfishing, poaching and pollution have been accused of causing the population to fall. In the 1950s, up to 10,000 female turtles struggled up the beach to lay their eggs each year, but in 1984 the number had fallen to 800 and 2006 only five nests were found from two turtles, newborns without emerging. "My only hope is that the eggs hatch. None of the eggs has hatched since 2000 because they were sterile," said Rahayu Zulkifli from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which manages a project for the conservation of turtles in Terengganu. "It is increasingly difficult to find men here leatherback so that most eggs are not fertilized and they eventually do not hatch," she added. Munir scientists said Malaysia plans to use "advanced biotechnology for the fertilization of the month laying eggs lute. "For example, we have the technology to use the sperm of the green turtles and try to fertilize the eggs of the leatherback turtle. It's the technology, we are trying to produce hatchlings," he said. Munir said that cloning is another method being studied in the biotechnology program. "But this will be the last resort to prevent the extinction of the species," he added. Rahayu said the widespread sale of turtle eggs in the State has contributed to the decline of sea turtles, and called for a ban on the sale of eggs of sea turtles of all species. Terengganu beaches are also landing sites for green turtles - the second largest species after the leatherback turtle - the olive ridley and hawksbill, even if the observations of the latter two are increasingly rare
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