Malaysia: Special sea turtle safety device

Farik Zolkepli The Star 13 Nov 11;

KUALA TERENGGANU: Deep-sea fishing operators will use a special device which allows turtles to escape from fishing nets.

State Fisheries Department director Zakaria Ismail said the Turtle Excluder Device (TED) is made of steel and can release turtles while fishes, squids and prawns are retained in the net.

He said the department would conduct a test run by providing six devices to deep-sea trawlers in Kemaman on Nov 28.

Zakaria said 16 turtles were found dead this year, mostly caught by trawlers.

He added the device, which costs about RM650, was widely used in the United States, Mexico and Australia.

WWF Malaysia lauded the move to use the device, which it described as the first of its kind in peninsular Malaysia.

WWF Malaysia group chief executive officer Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma said turtle fatalities were a threat to their existence.

He added that TED was originally developed by an American fisherman in the 1970s and was adopted by 18 countries.

Dr Sharma said Terengganu's beaches recorded the highest landings of turtles in the peninsula.

He added that the state's beaches have also been identified as the locations for nesting banks for leatherback turtles.