More turtles landing in Terengganu to lay eggs

KEMAMAN: Efforts to boost the turtle population are bearing fruit after 120 new female turtles were recorded landing on the beaches of Terengganu to lay eggs.

State Fisheries Department director Abdul Khalil Abdul Karim said about 400 to 600 female turtles had landed during the egg-laying season from March to July each year since 2001.

“Our efforts to conserve turtles by hatching their eggs and releasing them into the sea since 15 years ago are succeeding. The turtles have matured and are landing to lay eggs,” he said here yesterday.

Abdul Khalil said an increase in the adult female turtle population showed the effectiveness of the turtle conservation programme by the department with non-governmental organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund.

He said the department would intensify conservation efforts by hatching eggs and releasing hatchlings into the sea daily to prevent the species from becoming extinct.

“We collected 366,941 eggs from 2,342 green turtle nests from January to July this year. All the eggs were incubated and between 200,000 to 300,000 hatchlings were released yearly,” he said. — Bernama