Guest guest Posted July 1, 2003 Report Share Posted July 1, 2003 ***************************Advertisement*************************** TechCentral http://star-techcentral.com ***************************************************************** This message was forwarded to you by yitzeling. Comment from sender: This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my) URL: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2003/7/1/features/hrbing & sec=fea\ tures ________________________ Tuesday, July 01, 2003 Decline of the giants Story and pictures by HILARY CHIEW For decades the giant leatherbacks of Rantau Abang in Terengganu were a crowd-puller as nesting females drew tourists by the thousands. But today, the beaches are deserted. The impending extinction of the leatherback has brought scientists and policy makers to examine what went wrong, and start the course to protect other viable turtle species. JUNE is the peak nesting month of the leatherback turtles at Rantau Abang beach in Terengganu. Back in the heyday of the 1970s and 80s, tourists would arrive by the busload at the premier nesting ground of the leatherbacks, bringing a carnival-like atmosphere to this sleepy hollow on the East Coast. By the 1990s, these giant reptiles were getting more elusive, as grim reports of dead turtles found entangled in fishing nets coincided with the modernisation of the fishing industry. Now, as we walk on the same, albeit desolate, beach that stretches as far as the eye can see, hoping against hope to chance upon a nesting leatherback, the only sound we hear is the lapping of the waves and the symphony of the forest fringing the coast. “This is a far cry from the days when busloads of visitors hung out on the beach blasting loud music, setting bonfires and harassing the poor mother turtles,” recalls turtle scientist Dr Chan Eng Heng who had conducted extensive research on the leatherback. “Now that the turtle has gone, so have the tourists and the bustling beach-front chalets and restaurants,” sighs Chan. Chan predicts that the leatherback will be extinct this millennium, going by the prevailing trend of egg consumption, increasing mortality rate caused by fishing gear in international and territorial waters, and poor hatchery management. The Fisheries Department reported zero nesting last year although officers from the Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Centre (Tumec) insisted there were three nests but they were all poached. Bureaucratic contradictions aside, a record of three nests pales miserably in comparison to 10,000 nests in the 1950s. The drop in turtle landings on the 15km beach prompted the Terengganu state government to amend its Turtle Enactment 1951. Rantau Abang was gazetted as a turtle sanctuary and a total ban on leatherback egg consumption was included in the 1987 amendment. A council was also set up to manage the endangered species. Under the Turtle Enactment 1951, egg collection was legalised through a tender system that also allows the licensee to operate turtle watching areas. This has resulted in all the eggs being consumed until the introduction of the hatchery programme in 1961. In 1991, another layer of protection was created, this time to protect turtles in the water during the inter-nesting period. Chan and fellow turtle scientist Liew Hock Chark, from the University College of Science and Technology of Malaysia in Terengganu, conducted radio tracking of the nesting turtles in 1989 and mapped out the movement range of the reptile. This led to the establishment of the Rantau Abang Fisheries Protected Area in 1991, which banned the use of destructive fishing gear such as the trawl net and gill net. It is regrettable that the steps taken to protect the eggs and eliminate threats in the water failed to make Rantau Abang a returning point for the leatherback. Poor enforcement “Although turtle egg consumption was banned in 1987, it wasn & #8217;t until 1994 that all the eggs were protected,” reveals Kamarruddin Ibrahim, director of Tumec at a talk, Roundtable on the Conservation of Turtles in Malaysia, organised by the Maritime Institute of Malaysia recently. Collectors would rather sell the eggs in the market than turn them over to the Fisheries Department hatchery for two reasons: the eggs fetch a higher price in the market and the instant cash payment. The cumbersome payment procedures adopted by the hatchery inadvertently put off the collectors. This problem has not been addressed to this day, so the eggs continue to find their way to an illegal market. Official figures dating back to 1984 show that of the 45,360 eggs dug up that year, 14,563 were incubated. Compliance with regulations picked up after 1987 but by then, nesting had plummeted. Only 5,315 nests were recorded in 1993, and out of that, only 35% of the eggs were delivered to the hatcheries. Although the 1987 enactment provides for a maximum fine of RM3,000 and a jail term of one year, enforcement was lax and there was hardly any conviction of violators. Out at sea, things were no better. Lack of cooperation and apathy from the fishing community have resulted in many turtles turning up dead in fishing nets. According to Chan and Liew & #8217;s research paper, Decline of the Leatherback Population in Terengganu, Malaysia, 1956 to 1995, the diminishing trend in nesting is alarming: 37 nests were recorded in 1995 compared to 10,155 nests in 1956. The annual decline averaged 260 nests over the 39-year period. The rapid development of the fishing industry in Terengganu between 1972 and 1974, and the introduction of Japanese high seas squid drift nets in 1978 had an adverse impact on the leatherback population in Malaysia, according to the research paper. Tagged individuals from Rantau Abang were recovered from as far as Taiwan, Japan and Hawaii. The report also pointed out that newly-released hatchlings would be attracted to the brightly-lit fishing boats, thus reducing their chances of making it to the open seas. Not only were the eggs poached and the adults killed by fishing gear, even the eggs incubated in the hatchery had disrupted the gender balance of the leatherback population. The high temperature in the incubators had resulted in a predominantly female batch of hatchlings. A study by Chan in 1987 showed that since all the hatchlings came from the hatcheries, this could tip the sex ratio of the leatherback population. Female turtles which do not have adequate mating chances will eventually deposit eggs which are largely unfertilised. Unfertilised eggs due to sex-ratio imbalance has emerged as a unique problem in Rantau Abang and presents an additional hurdle to the survival of the leatherback. The latest confirmation was the discovery in 2001 of 21 clutches of eggs which were found to have no embryonic development. Too late Kamarruddin stresses that there will be more stringent enforcement of the law this year, in view of the three nests that were poached last year. Besides initiating beach patrols to curb poaching and appealing to collectors to surrender the eggs for incubation, the tagging programme would be resumed. The tagging of turtles was stopped in 1976 after a 10-year effort by the state Fisheries Department. Tumec officers would also take to the sea to nab errant fishermen who cast nets in the off-shore sanctuary. The prices of eggs will be increased from RM1.80 to RM2.50 per egg to match the market value. Tumec will also be starting a long-overdue education programme involving the prime stakeholder & #8211; the villagers. Kamarruddin has appealed to the fishermen to report any landings, strandings or dead turtles caught in their nets, to the centre. A patrol team has been patrolling the beach on alternate nights since last month. Acknowledging that the night patrol is taking a toll on the staff, Kamarruddin is looking to the Youth Ministry & #8217;s Rakan Muda programme to supply volunteers and sustain the surveillance work. Since the annual nesting season began in March, there has been no sign of the reptile returning to nest. Kamarruddin attributes it to the failure to relay research findings to the ground management. The constant change of field managers also disrupted continuity of conservation efforts. Delays in intervention measures probably tolled the death knell of the leatherbacks in Rantau Abang. It took the Fisheries Department 10 years to rectify the problem associated with incubation temperature before a shade was built over the hatchery in 1997. By now, most of the villagers in Rantau Abang have accepted the inevitable & #8211; that the leatherback may cease to nest on their beaches and that future generations may never see this gentle giant. Express your views on turtle conservation online at: <a href= " http://202.186.86.35/lifestyle/survey/turtle/ " >www.thestar.com.my/lifestyl\ e</a> <p> ________________________ Your one-stop information portal: The Star Online http://thestar.com.my http://biz.thestar.com.my http://classifieds.thestar.com.my http://cards.thestar.com.my http://search.thestar.com.my http://star-motoring.com http://star-space.com http://star-jobs.com http://star-ecentral.com http://star-techcentral.com 1995-2003 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Star Publications is prohibited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.