KUCHING: Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) deputy chief executive officer I (Management and Conservation) Oswald Braken Tisen has urged the public to dispose their clear plastic wastes properly.
“In Sarawak, when we find dead turtles and conduct a necropsy to check why they died, in past years we have found turtles with their stomachs full of plastic,” he revealed during a talk on ‘Challenges in Turtle Conservation in Borneo’ live streamed on Borneo Ocean Talks Facebook page on Thursday.
He added that SFC had also found dead crocodiles with their stomachs full of plastic.
Braken said Sarawak faced five challenges in turtle conservation. One was the operation of fishing trawlers in turtle habitats.
“This is especially challenging because Sarawak has a coast that is about 1,000 km long,” he said.
To address this, Sarawak had planted artificial reefs or reef balls in key areas to prevent trawlers from entering and to keep the turtles safe.
The second challenge, Braken said, was the hunting of turtles within and outside the waters of Sarawak. He pointed out that turtles tended to migrate to Sabah, Indonesia and Philippines.
“If only Sarawak is carrying out conservation and protection efforts but other areas do not take care of these turtles, they will still go extinct. We have to work together with other countries to take care of the turtles in Asia,” he explained.
Another challenge was the sale of turtle eggs. Braken pointed out that turtle eggs were being smuggled in from neighbouring countries.
He said there were cases where Sarawak was a transit point for the export of turtle eggs to Malaya.
“In Sarawak, turtles are a totally protected species. Violators can be fined RM25,000 and jailed for up to two years,” he said.
Another challenge was coastal zone development, which could destroy nesting beaches and deprive turtles of places to lay their eggs.
“We need to have an integrated development programme and identify important areas for turtles and how we can reduce the impact on such beaches,” he said, adding that cooperation between all relevant agencies was vital for balanced development and preservation of key turtle areas.
Braken also emphasised that stakeholders and all parties had to be involved and cooperate to conserve turtles.
Sarawak, for example, was implementing programmes such as the Honorary Wildlife Ranger programme to promote conservation to the society. In national parks, a Special Park Committee was established to take care of the parks and species such as turtles.
Braken said that the state had seen an increase in turtle numbers. “We are actively conducting programmes with the community for turtle conservation,” he explained.
The talk was part of a special series co-organised by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), SFC, Wildlife Department Sabah, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Malaysia and other agencies in conjunction with World Turtle Day 2020.
