The Star 29 Jul 11;
MARANG: The Terengganu Turtle Sanctuary Advisory Board has denied that turtle eggs being sold in markets in the state, were collected locally.
Board chairman Datuk Mazlan Ngah said the eggs were from Sabah, Sarawak and the Philippines.
“I don’t see any Terengganu turtle eggs being sold openly in the markets, but if they are being sold secretly then I would not know,” he told Bernama on Tuesday.
Mazlan who is also state secretary said licensed collectors in the state were only allowed to sell the eggs to the Fisheries Department for its hatcheries.
He said the board was finding it difficult to prevent the sale of turtle eggs in the local markets as they had actually come from elsewhere.
Nevertheless, the sale of leatherback turtle eggs were totally banned in the state, he stressed.
Mazlan said the state government was proposing to gazette more turtle landing areas as sanctuaries in a bid to increase their population.
He added that Ma’ Daerah Kerteh in Kemaman was in the process of being gazetted as a turtle sanctuary — Bernama.
