Lim Wei Phin, The Star 25 Nov 07;
A WHILE back, I was fortunate enough to be a volunteer for WWF Malaysia in their Hawksbill turtle project in Pulau Upeh, an island off Malacca.
Upon arrival at the WWF office, I was told to rest till 6pm before heading out to Pulau Upeh. We had to reach the island before 7pm, just as the sun was setting to ensure that the noise made by the engine of the motor boat did not scare the turtles away. I was informed that the turtles usually monitor the shores for a few days before actually coming up to lay their eggs.
Pulau Upeh was once earmarked as a tourist attraction, but the plans to build a resort fell through. It is now a deserted island except for two caretakers. Upon arriving at the island, I was shocked to see that the beach was only about 120m long. We immediately set up camp, and unrolled our mats on the abandoned jetty floor and placed our sleeping bags on them. That was our ‘camp’ I guess.
So, the idea here was to patrol the beach every two hours. That’s because a turtle takes at least three hours to lay its eggs, so patrolling every one and a half hour ensures that we do not miss a single turtle. We did our first patrol round and I was left dismayed as we didn’t find anything.
While waiting, I had a nice chat with the WWF worker. I learned that there are seven different species of turtles: Loggerhead turtle, Green Sea turtle, Hawksbill turtle, Kemp’s Ridley turtle, Olive Ridley turtle, Flatback turtle and Leatherback turtle.
The Leatherback turtle is the famous giant turtle which can grow as big as a Volkswagen car. They used to be commonly found in Rantau Abang, Terengganu, where they lay their eggs but the number have now declined miserably. It is currently an endangered species due to many locals digging up their eggs and fishermen catching the turtles in their nets by accident.
Only four types of sea turtles can be found in Malaysia: Green Sea turtle, Leatherback turtle, Olive Ridley turtle and the Hawksbill turtle. The most common of them are the Green Sea turtles which can be found all around the globe. However, Pulau Upeh has a unique rocky shore which attracts the Hawksbill Turtle.
Throughout the night, we didn’t stumble upon any turtles. I was disappointed at having to put up with the harsh surrounding but not seeing anything worthwhile.
In the morning, we went ashore to get breakfast. There was no fancy restaurant around but the nasi lemak and mi bandung at the hawker stalls were pretty good.
Later, I went to a turtle sanctuary where I managed to see a Green Sea turtle and a Hawksbill turtle. Those were turtles that were reared from young in captivity, and would not be able to survive long if released into the wild. One of the turtles was donated by a lady who got it from a pet shop.
I was taken to a back room where the turtle eggs were stored. The eggs were stored in boxes which were labelled with their estimated hatching time. It takes approximately 100 days for the eggs to hatch. But the fishermen who are paid to bring the eggs to the sanctuary sometimes bring them in too late.
There is talk of people selling the turtle eggs in the black market as there is a demand for them from people who use them to treat asthma and as aphrodisiacs.
Our task at the hatchery was to determine why the same batch of eggs did not hatch after the baby turtles were released into the ocean. The baby turtles have to be released to the ocean once hatched as they have to grow up in a natural environment to ensure they can survive the harsh seas. The odds of a baby turtle surviving to a fertile age is one to 1000. The turtles also have a way of coming back to the shore where it was born to lay their eggs.
After sorting out the eggs, we had dinner and then prepared to return to Pulau Upeh. We patrolled the shores again every one and a half hours. To my dismay, we didn’t encounter any turtles yet again. I was a bit disappointed.
On my third night, during the midnight patrol, as my hope and enthusiasm were dwindling, we finally spotted a turtle! Our first task was to mark the spot where the eggs were laid, so that the eggs could be collected later on.
We placed a red string into the hole where the turtle laid its eggs and left the long end of the string exposed. The turtle then buried its eggs back in such a way that the spot which was dug up was left as if untouched.
After laying its eggs, we had to ‘tackle’ the turtle to check if it was previously tagged. I was informed that a turtle usually comes up to shore to lay its eggs about three to four times a season. Each turtle which has been previously identified would have been tagged on both the front flippers to identify the number of times they came up to lay their eggs.
To our surprise, this turtle did not have a tag on it meaning it was a ‘new’ turtle to the area. I had to hold down the turtle while the other WWF worker tagged both its front flippers to ensure that the turtle could be recognised the second time round.
To my astonishment, the turtle was incredibly strong. Even with me literally sitting on it, it still managed to move and struggle back towards the ocean. After tagging the turtle, we allowed it to go back into the ocean.
Our work for the night was far from over. We had to dig up the eggs, and be very careful about breaking them. The eggs could not be shaken and must be kept vertical at all times. We carefully dug up the eggs and placed them in a polystyrene box filled with sand. I counted 108 eggs, a number which would have thrilled the punter but not the conservationist. Normally a turtle could lay up to 150 eggs.
Although a turtle was spotted that night, we still had to patrol the shore as another turtle might turn up The next morning, I was awakened by the sound of the motor boat. We gathered our belongings as well as the turtle eggs and loaded them on board. When we reached shore, the first thing was to bring the turtle eggs to the sanctuary and breakfast had to take a backseat.
Although my stint only lasted three days, I felt a deep sense of pride and fulfillment for what I had accomplished in my little adventure. It was a great experience for me and I feel that more young people should come forward to help protect one of the greatest treasures of Malaysia.
Links
Conservation of Hawksbill Turtles & Painted Terrapins in Malacca on the WWF website.
One of the turtles tagged in this programme was found to spend most of her time in the vicinity of Sentosa and our Southern Islands! More on the WWF: Voyage of our Tutles: Puteri Pulau Upeh
