SEMATAN: The state’s treasures such as sea turtles must be preserved to protect the environment, said Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
“The public need to know and be more responsible in protecting the environment. By preserving our existing treasures, they are also indirectly protecting the environment,” he added.
Karim said this when he attended a ceremony at Talang-Talang Islands at Sematan yesterday.
At the event, Karim also helped to release 10 turtle hatchlings into the sea. The main objective of the programme was to preserve and safeguard sea turtles in an effort to increase their population.
“The success of this programme can be achieved through close collaboration between the government and the private sector which supports our vision in carrying out turtle conservation work in Sarawak,” he added.
“Clearly, Sarawak is very concerned with environmental protection. Development and preservation of the environment must be balanced to achieve a superior quality of life.
“In order to ensure that the ‘green turtle’ species is not threatened with extinction, the state government through its agencies has undertaken various efforts so that the turtle landing areas are not disturbed and destroyed.
“This is one of the proactive steps taken to ensure the areas are well supervised and not interrupted by activities that could prevent the turtles from laying their eggs.
“The move is also one of the ongoing ways in the hope that it will bring back the glory of Sarawak which is the main destination of turtles from around the world to lay their eggs,” he explained.
Meanwhile, three islands were gazetted in 1999 as national parks for the purpose of preserving three species of sea turtles. The islands were Pulau Satang Besar, Pulau Talang-Talang Besar and Pulau Talang-Talang Kecil.
The three islands are the locations of three sea turtle species, namely Penyu Hijau, Penyu Sisik and Penyu Rantau to breed and lay their eggs from March to October every year.
Also present at the event yesterday were Opar assemblyman Datuk Ranum Mina, Tanjung Datu assemblywoman Datuk Amar Jamilah Anu, acting director of Sarawak Museum Department Suria Bujang, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Youth and Sports, Hii Chang Kee and Karim’s wife Datin Zuraini Abdul Jabbar.
