Johor Sees An Estimated 5,000 Turtle Hatchlings Each Year

By Nur Faradilla Mohamad

MERSING, Oct 2 (Bernama) -- Johor continues to make positive progress in turtle conservation, particularly for hawksbill and green turtles, with an estimated 5,000 hatchlings emerging each year through protection efforts at nesting sites and hatcheries.

Johor Department of Fisheries director Rosmawati Ghazali said the main turtle nesting sites identified include Pulau Apil, Pulau Dayang, Pulau Besar and Pulau Tinggi here.

She said Pulau Tinggi recorded the highest number of hatchings due to its low population and remote location, which helps minimise human disturbance and threats from predators such as dogs and monitor lizards.

However, Rosmawati said turtle eggs left to hatch naturally face a high risk of predation, so they transfer eggs found at nesting sites to hatcheries for closer monitoring.

“When turtles lay their eggs in natural nests, they face many predators and the survival rate is low. Therefore, we transfer eggs found at nesting sites to hatcheries so our personnel can monitor them more closely,” she said.

She spoke to Bernama after inspecting the deployment of cheese block artificial reefs for coral restoration modules in the waters off Pulau Tinggi here recently.

Rosmawati said the Fisheries Conservation and Protection Branch's conservation efforts are important, as studies show that only one in every 1,000 turtle hatchlings released into the sea is expected to reach maturity.

She said the department is continuing to step up conservation programmes, including education and awareness initiatives with students and local communities, as well as deploying artificial reefs to help preserve the marine ecosystem.

According to Rosmawati, turtle hatchlings face predators on land, in the sea and from the air after hatching, while also needing to find suitable feeding grounds to survive and grow.

She said temperature also plays an important role in determining the sex of turtle hatchlings, with warmer temperatures tending to produce more females and cooler temperatures more males.

“Sometimes we find unfertilised eggs, so we need to ensure the temperature in the area is suitable to produce male hatchlings, as one female needs four males for fertilisation.

“Therefore, we have set a ratio of five males to 10 females here,” she said, adding that the site is monitored regularly, with information recorded through the Fisheries Resources Management System, MyFiRSt.

Rosmawati said there is also a hatchery on Pulau Besar, but the island records relatively few turtle landings and faces constraints in electricity and water supply.

However, she said the department would transfer turtle eggs found on Pulau Besar to the Pulau Tinggi hatchery, which has better facilities for closer monitoring.

She said controlling human activity in hatchery areas is also important as they are sensitive locations where public access is discouraged.

-- BERNAMA