Conservation

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TURTLE WATCH By Ashwini Sivanathan, 14 years old Participants: Ashwini Sivanathan 14, writer Shaza Mohd. Salem 9, writer Fatihah Abd. Rashid 14, artist Amalina Rahmat 8, artist Azmier Zulkifli 13, Audio Visual Khalif Zabareen 7, Audio Visual Amran Rahmat 9, Audio Visual

Marine turtles are very unique and are animals categorised as reptiles. There are seven different species and four of them land and lay their eggs on Malaysian beaches. They are; Leatherback, Hawksbill, Green and Olive Ridley turtles. However the number has been declining. Several measures have been taken to prevent theses turtles from extinction.

It was a nine-hour journey from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu. We left K.L at 10am and we slept all the way. The bus stopped at Mentakab and then later at Kemaman to allow passengers to stretch their legs and have some food. We then reached Kerteh at 6.30pm and we were taken to the Bakau Beach Resort. We had our bath and rested for an hour. At about 9pm, we went out for a taste of the different types of our very own local 'Nasi Goreng'. It was indeed delicious. Later on we went back to the resort and had a good night's sleep.

28th May 2002, Tuesday

'Knock! Knock! Knock!', we were woken up by Amalina Rahmat (8)."Being one of the youngest she must have been very excited!" I thought. After a very light breakfeast prepared by Umi, (Pn Khadijah who was our escort) we set off for the Ma'Daerah Turtle Sanctuary with Encik Zabawi Saat, a representative from the Fisheries Department of Malaysia. When we reached the sanctuary, we were introduced to the other workers and volunteer's. After a 10 minutes rest, we started on our assignment. We were taken to the hatchery, a place where the turtle eggs are buried right after they are laid. We dug the holes of previously hatched eggs to find out how many baby turtles had survived. There were two eggs that hatched but the babies did not survive. After knowing why it had died, I felt very sad and sorry for it. We worked at the hatchery for about two hours and went to the main office for a discussion. Here we met two English students who were volunteers from the UK.

We painted and wrote some messages on cloth bags to encourage people to reduce the use of plastic bags. Plastic bags thrown into the sea has also caused many turtles to die if they eat the plastics. We also wrote our messages to care for the turtles on postcards which will be viewed on our web site and shared with global readers. The web site is, www.yawa.org/spread_the_message project.

At about 5pm, we were given a chance to go down to the beach for relaxation. We were only allowed to play a stone's throw from the shore and it was fun. The waves were very strong. For a moment it was as if the waves were slapping me. Later on we went back, had our bath, the Muslim members had their players and then we had dinner. After a brief Q & A session about the turtles with the Manager of the Sanctuary, Encik Wan Rozaimy Wan Ramly, we went out to see them as we were told a turtle had 'landed'. It was 11pm and it was the moment we were all waiting for.

We finally saw a turtle moving slowly on the soft sand. It was a Green Turtle. We went a bit closer to get a better look of it and we saw it laying its eggs, 139 of them! The eggs were collected as soon as they were laid. This was to protect them from poachers. It was then brought to the hatchery and were buried in a hole almost similar to the one dug by the turtle. We all had an opportunity to burry a few eggs. We then measured the turtle, tagged on both flippers with a registration number. It took her two hours to return back to the sea after she had played with the sand and covered up the hole. She strolled back so slowly and we wondered if she ever think about the eggs she laid.

After that, we had an activity called 'Magic Moments'. This was an activity where we sat far apart from each other on the beach, in the dark. We are to think about the turtles we saw, to feel closer to nature and to think about this trip. I thought deeply about those baby turtles which survived. The thought about them, that they are never going to know who their mother is and where they come from, filled my eyes with tears. We went to bed at about 3am feeling very excited because we had just seen something that not many people are given a chance to see. We slept on the beach and it was amazing…how beautiful the scenery was and how fresh the air was.

29th May 2002,Wednesday

I woke up at 6.45am, just in time to see the sunrise. It was very beautiful…!Since we were going to be leaving at 9.30, there was not much time to waste. I woke the rest of them up and by 8am, all of us were ready for breakfast. At 9am, after breakfast, we loaded out bags into the car and we were off to the Kerteh Bus Station. Our bus came at 10.30 am and we had slept all the way through the journey. We reached Kuala Lumpur at about 6.15pm.

This trip had been a memorable trip for all of us. We hope we can go back there in two months time to release the hatched baby turtles from the eggs that we buried. Turtles are the treasures of our universe, so, save them!

Ashwini Sivanathan (14)
8 June 2002
Project Turtle-watch

I know about turtles since my trip to Terengganu. I've learnt that a turtle can lay 140 eggs 4 times a season. One season is 4 months, that is May to September. I met En Zabawi, he takes care of turtle eggs at the Ma' Daerah Turtle Sanctuary. He dug a hole where there were turtle eggs that were hatched. All the eggs hatched except 2 hatched but the baby turtles didn't make it.

I saw a big turtle on the second night I was there. It was a "Green Turtle". It laid 139 eggs. Encik Zabawi and Abang Wan, the manager, dug a hole and put a net around it so that predators won't eat the eggs. The eggs will hatch in 3 months, that is in August.

There are 4 species of turtle in Terengganu. They are:

These turtles are getting extinct because the sea is polluted and some people killed the turtles and eat them and eat their eggs too. I felt sad that there won't be any turtles in the future. That's why I'm saving the turtles by keeping the eggs safe. InsyaAllah, I'm coming back in August and watch the turtle eggs hatch and let the baby turtles go free in the sea.

We must save the turtles in the sea. If they die we have to keep the baby turtles and save them too. This is how I feel about turtles. I love them and I want them to be safe. I started to learn about turtles in Terengganu. Before this, I did not know about turtles. I want to tell other children to go to Terengganu to learn about turtles, so that we all can help the turtles.

I think that conserving turtles is about preventing turtles from becoming extinct day by day turtles are dying. Species such as the Leatherback turtle are rarely found around the world. To understand fully on how much trouble the turtles have to go through when they hatch out of their eggs you will have to imagine as the technology now does not have the power to read their minds.

If I were a turtle which had just hatched I would quickly scurry to the water as I would sense danger. Swimming in the water of the blue ocean I would travel in search of a place safe from any predators in the ocean.

Years later the turtles would return to the place where they were born and lay their eggs there if not somewhere else. To help conserve them try not to buy any items made out of turtles such as eggs