A juvenile green sea turtle wearing a harness designed to introduce the captive-reared animal into its natural environment before its eventual release. The turtle was part of conservation work carried out by Seatru, the Sea Turtle Research Unit established in Terengganu in 1984, that continues its work today. — Seatru
OFF the coast of Terengganu and along the stretch of its sandy beaches, good news is unfolding.
The Fisheries Department has reported an increase in green sea turtle landings from 3,878 in 2017 to 10,130 in 2023, a spike of over 260%, with a whopping 811,351 eggs laid in 2023 alone.
There’s hardly any good news in conservation matters nowadays but that is something to celebrate. And there’s more: Years after green sea turtles were put on the list of endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), they are now officially off it. Chelonia mydas, said the international conservation body, has improved in status from endangered to least concern.
Making the announcement during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi on Oct 10, 2025, Roderic Mast, co-chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission Marine Turtle Specialist Group, said the ongoing global recovery of the green sea turtle is a powerful example of what coordinated global conservation over decades can do to stabilise and even restore populations of long-lived marine species.
“Such approaches must focus not only on the turtles, but on keeping their habitats healthy, and their ecological functions intact.
“Sea turtles cannot survive without healthy oceans and coasts, and humans can’t either. Sustained conservation efforts are key to assuring that this recovery lasts,” he said.
However, in the same press release announcing the recovery of one species, IUCN also revealed that three types of Arctic seal have moved closer to extinction, while more than half of bird species globally are in decline.
Even more sobering was the announcement of the latest species lost to extinction, including the Christmas Island shrew, the slender-billed curlew, a type of cone snail, and the Diospyros angulata (Mauritian ebony) tree.
Three Australian mammals – the marl, the south-eastern striped bandicoot, and the Nullarbor barred bandicoot – as well as Delissea sinuata, a plant native to the Hawaiian Islands, were assessed for the first time and recorded as extinct, underlining just how tenuous survival is for much of the world’s flora and fauna.
Founded in 1948, the IUCN, which works in the field of conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources, is best known for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Fragile comeback
In Malaysia, the Fisheries Department was delighted to announce those higher numbers for the green sea turtle, locally known as penyu agar.
According to department director-general Datuk Adnan Hussain, the green sea turtle also recorded the highest number of eggs laid among Malaysian turtle species, increasing from 330,793 in 2017 to 811,351 in 2023.
He attributed the increase to conservation efforts, including a programme that saw 5.12 million turtle eggs collected and incubated in conservation centres from 2017 to 2023. From these eggs, 3.62 million hatchlings were released into the sea.
Rahayu Zulkifli, CEO of the Malaysia Marine Conservation and Research Organisation (Persatuan Pemuliharaan dan Kajian Marin Malaysia or Pulihara), explains that one of the reasons for the IUCN’s reclassification of green sea turtles is that other parts of the world have seen a marked increase in their populations.
“In Malaysia, the Sulu Sea Malaysia/Turtle Island Heritage Protected Area is one of the main contributors to this increase. However, it does not mean that it is the same everywhere in the country,” she says.
This, Rahayu says, is one of the weaknesses of the IUCN Red List, which looks only at overall global populations.
“However, since Malaysia does not have its own conservation status of endangered or critically endangered species, our green sea turtles, too, will follow the IUCN reclassification from endangered to least concern despite there being some places locally where the population has not really increased,” she says.
An example of that weakness is reflected in giant leatherback sea turtles’ listing.
“Globally, the leatherbacks have been reclassified from critically endangered to vulnerable because the Atlantic population has bounced back.
“But over here in the Eastern Pacific, the population is still critical. Rantau Abang leatherback nests, for example, have remained nil in the past 10 years compared with the 1950s when there were 10,000 annually,” she says, referring to the previously prime nesting site for these turtles in Terengganu.
Rahayu: There needs to be strict enforcement of the laws against the use of illegal fishing gear, egg poaching, and sale of turtle eggs on the black market. — FilepicPulihara’s teams are currently engaged in three distinct marine conservation projects, in Lang Tengah Island, Tanjong Jara, and Chakar Hutan Beach, all in Terengganu.
The NGO’s main objective is to mitigate the risk of the local extinction of turtles by intercepting and safeguarding turtle eggs from both human poachers and natural predators.
No finish line
Besides giant leatherbacks and green turtles, the other two sea turtle species in Malaysia, the olive ridley and the hawksbill, are respectively classified as vulnerable and critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. The leatherback is believed to be extinct on Malaysian shores.
All this points to the challenges that remain beneath the good news.
While Terengganu has banned the sale and consumption of all turtle eggs from June 1, 2022, they can still be found illegally if you know where to look. Turtle eggs have reportedly been offered for sale on social media and some e-commerce sites, while in Sabah turtles and their eggs are heavily trafficked and smuggled across borders.
In October, a viral 20-second video showing snorkellers at Redang Island, Terengganu, harassing a sea turtle sparked outrage among conservationists and animal lovers.
A man is seen repeatedly grabbing the turtle by its shell and neck while others surround it to prevent it from swimming away. At one point, the man even steps on the animal’s shell.
He and his friends had obviously not been deterred by the compound notices issued just a few months earlier, in April, to five people linked to the mishandling of sea turtles at Pulau Manukan, Sabah.
The Terengganu government and state Fisheries Department are reportedly investigating the Pulau Redang video.
Also, an increase in sea sand temperatures is causing more female hatchlings to be produced, unbalancing populations and threatening their long-term survival.
“There needs to be strict enforcement of the laws against the use of illegal fishing gear, egg poaching, and sale of turtle eggs on the black market.
“Also lacking is enforcement against illegal and unsustainable island and beachfront development, which causes adverse impacts on nesting beaches, as well as unsustainable tourism with tourists lured into manhandling turtles, which is illegal,” says Rahayu.
Ironically, it is tourism and the massive amount of dollars it brings in that is likely to ensure the survival of green sea turtles and other marine species – but only if it’s practised sustainably and safely for the animals.
Of course, other consistently sustained conservation efforts are key to their survival too.
Because as examples like the Christmas island shrew and slender-billed curlew show, survival is a fickle thing. We could still lose the precious ground we have gained with our green sea turtles.
