Lodge Owner's Efforts At Turtle Egg Hatchery A Success - via Herp Digest

By Haslin Gaffor, National News Agency of Malaysia

SANDAKAN (Bernama) -- By any stretch of imagination, this should have been a very mundane event. For centuries, turtles have been coming ashore to lay eggs, the event happening without much ado.

But this time when Alexander Yee noticed a number of turtles coming ashore to lay eggs, it was news, an exciting piece of news.

He knew he has finally got it right. It worked. Turtles laid eggs.

It was last year only that the Management Director of Trekkers Lodge, Sdn Bhd, set up the Turtle Egg Hatching Centre in Libaran Island. The turtles laying eggs was proof that his effort had paid off. From January through July this year, 50 green and hawksbill turtles have come ashore to lay eggs, compared to 37 during the same period last year.

A total of 4,715 turtle eggs were collected this year, up from 3,156 collected last year.

Meanwhile, 1,922 hatchlings were released into the sea between January and July this year, compared to 1,165 during the same period last year.

"Seeing this significant increase in the number of turtles that came ashore, the eggs collected and the hatchlings released into the sea, I was sure that I had made the right decision by establishing the centre.

"This is my little contribution towards efforts to conserve the environment, particularly the turtles, an important part of the ocean's ecosystem", he told Bernama.

Alexander is also the president of the Kinabatangan-Corridor of Life Tourism Operators Association (KiTA) and runs a lodging business in Kampung Bilit, Kinabatangan and Rumah Terbalik (the Upside Down House) in Tamparuli, Tuaran.

HATCHING CENTRE

Libaran Island is a 40-minute boat ride from Sandakan town, not very far from Selingan Island that falls in the Turtle Islands Park region. Bakungan Kecil and Gulisan make up for the other two islands there.

The fact that the Libaran Island is located near the park is the reason turtles prefer it to lay eggs.

Alexander said the decision to set up a turtle hatchery was prompted by a suggestion that a Sabah Wildlife Department officer made four years ago.

Soon after he decided, he rented a privately-owned piece of land on the island and established the three-hectare strip of land running along the beach shore that was already marked out for turtle hatching.

TURTLE CONSERVATION PROGRAMME

He said the hatchery was opened as a result of joint efforts with the Sabah Wildlife Department, with which he signed an MoU last year on July 2 in Tamparuli, Tuaran.

The MoU states that 11 Trekkers Lodge staff, including Alexander and the Libaran Island village chief, have undergone the necessary training organised by the department and were subsequently appointed as Honorary Wildlife Wardens.

Four of Alexander's staff are in charge of operating the hatchery.

Thanks to the cooperation with the wildlife department, the turtle conservation programme via the egg-hatching centre is now a reality. The joint venture also kickstarted an awareness programme for villagers and visitors.

Besides that, the conservation programme also enabled research projects to study the life cycle of turtles on the Libaran Island, and one of these was made available to local and international students.

Alexander is also planning to open camping sites on the island to better disseminate awareness about turtle conservation and research programmes.

CHALLENGES

However, conservation efforts do not succeed easily, particularly when people's proclivity is to rather do exactly the opposite.

In the 65 houses on the Libaran Island, there live 360 native people, most of them fishermen who are used to collecting turtle eggs for meals.

The Libaran Village Chief, Sarief Nasidip Uyung, said for the villagers, this has been a practice long before the hatchery was established.

Certainly, asking villagers to suddenly abandon an age old practice in the name of conserving environment was not easy. Collecting turtle eggs for conservation is currently limited to the rented shore strip.

"This will continue till better awareness can be inculcated among the villagers about turtle conservation. Then we would be able to collect eggs for conservation from the entire island".

Alexander admitted it was a tricky situation, and must be approached tactfully.

"The villagers are used to collecting the eggs for their meals, so a turtle conservation programme in such a situation is sure to run into a lot of challenges.

"However, I believe that a subtle approach and continual campaigns stressing the importance of turtle conservation for mankind and marine life is key to inculcating a culture of informed choice and conservation among the island residents", he said.

AWARENESS

Charity always begins at home, and this venture was no different. He said the entire awareness campaign actually began with his staff at the hatchery and their family members first realizing the importance of what needs to be done. The children came in for a special focus in these efforts.

Alexander said apart from the Sabah Wildlife Department's efforts, an educational programme will also be organised at the Pulau Libaran Primary School.

"This will be a part of a continual awareness programme tailored for the long run, because this is not something that can be easily implemented on a short term basis".

One of his staff at the hatchery, Harun Harris, 32, said he was happy to be part of the turtle conservation efforts.

Harun earlier worked in a tourism centre on the Selingan Island for a year, and had the opportunity to witness a turtle egg-hatching programme organised by the Sabah Parks.

His earlier dealings with turtles were of a different sort - he used to eat their eggs, something he admits to. But ever since he joined this programme, Harun is a votary of conservation.

Now, in fact, he is advocating the cause, and has been running an awareness campaign among his family members and slowly reaching out to fellow villagers, too.

"We are counting on an increased awareness among the villagers to help make the conservation effort a success, since this is something whose rewards can be reaped by the villagers, too.

"I believe that if the hatchery expands, the island will attract more visitors. This will prove to the villagers that the centre benefits them too", he said.

Harun said he would like to ensure that the island remains a destination conducive for turtles to come ashore and lay eggs, so that his children, one just a year old and the other nine years of age, are able to witness the nature's bounty when they are older.

BENEFITTING ALL

Alexander agreed with Harun and believed that the turtle hatchery would turn the island into a major tourist destination for those seeking an opportunity to watch turtles lay eggs, apart from bringing villagers good income.

The island has its own primary school, a health clinic, a community centre, a surau and a jetty.

He is also hoping that more private companies, particularly those involved in the tourism industry, would carry out similar environmental conservation efforts.

He understood that any company needs to make a profit but hoped that in doing so, they would not jeopardize the environment.

After all, reaping profits cannot happen at the cost of exterminating a species. No logic of profit making can be allowed to turn turtle at the sea, certainly not after turtles have survived for centuries, and have a chance again. See those eggs? That's the proof.

-- BERNAMA