BE KIND TO OUR TURTLES
AND THE OBVIOUS NEED FOR THEIR PRESERVATION - PART 2

There is a turtle sanctuary at Chendor, about 30 km from Kuantan, Pahang, known as the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary. There, turtle eggs are kept and hatched in a special enclosed hatchery, and we can watch the young turtles crawl in their hundreds back to the sea after they’re hatched.

Here and today, in the state of Pahang at Chendor and Cherating we welcome with open arms and with extended help all those adorable turtles to come and breed at our beaches, as they had done hundreds of years ago nonchalantly, may I say, until it declined rather "recently", in the early 1990’s.

They used to come in droves, laying hundreds and thousands of eggs, and at the same time teaching the many humans and tourists who watched them in awe, about the Greatness of the Almighty, the Creator, the Beneficent, who blesseth humans with uncommonness and diversity of life on Earth.

The greenback turtles and other species that come to lay their eggs on the beaches of Chendor and elsewhere in the east coast states should as well be accorded respect and welcome fit for royalties in the human sphere.

Because they are the last bastions of their species that can perhaps rejuvenate their own population back into bigger numbers and help to restore the ecological balance, not just restoring the lost tourist numbers in the east coast states.

Turtle-watching, I remember was a popular event in the 1970’s until late 1980’s at the beaches of the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, especially of Chendor and Cherating in Pahang, and Rantau Abang in Terengganu. I remember watching the event sometime in late 1970.

Nowadays the word "dearth" perhaps correctly paints the non-event, as turtle killing, trappings and improper fishing had depleted and endangered their numbers.

And perhaps now we know that those illegal fishermen from overseas, like China, Vietnam and Phillipines, fishing illegally in our waters, had been depleting our natural resources, part of our tourist attractions, and condemning turtle eggs to hatcheries, and grown turtles to medicinal pots.

And that is not to say our own fishermen are innocent. There were and still are many cases of turtles found dead, caught in their nets. It is time that they learn to avoid fishing in waters where turtles feed and live.

After all, turtles and other creatures of the sea help to sustain the ecological balance in the vast waters of the oceans, that in the end will determine whether humankind will continue to exist or perish.

Tsunami, anyone?

BE KIND TO OUR TURTLES
AND THE OBVIOUS NEED FOR THEIR PRESERVATION – PART 1

I read with disdain, and I’m sure I’m not alone, about the dead turtles found by the Malaysian marine police when they caught a Chinese trawler fishing illegally in Malaysian waters in Sabah a few months ago.

I can’t really express how cruel I thought those fishermen were, maybe how stupid they were really, since the turtles were actually caught to be made into traditional medicines, of all things.

In what century are they living? Medicines made from dead creatures? That, in my view, is pushing alternative medicine too far. Beyond the twilight zone it is. With really doubtful results at that.

And the next day another trawler with a bigger haul of turtles was caught. Well, kudos to the Malaysian Marine Police. Those are the type of news I would love to hear about our police department.

Then, later, of course with profound glee, I read in the newspapers that the skipper and crew of the Chinese trawler caught with 274 protected turtles were slapped with more than RM1.88 million, yes million, in fines by the magistrate's court in Kota Kinabalu. And they were ordered to be jailed between six and 18 months each if in default.

And I unreservedly say, yes,yes,yes, they deserve those huge fines. Truly and rightly deserve it.

And good riddance to them. The stiff penalties meted out to these felons should serve as stern warnings to others that turtles, especially our turtles, are worth more than the worth of whatever value as traditional medicines they would get.

But, just a reminder, we must never for a moment forget about conservation of turtles. That is more important than all the huge fines and jail terms. The advice that "Prevention is better than cure" has been touted for so long it’s becoming a cliché nobody listens to.

And fining and jailing the crooked fishermen will not help come to life the turtles that had been killed. Dead turtles cannot breed.

But we can disseminate information to all those fishermen of neighboring countries of our desire to preserve, at all costs, these adorable turtles, and of their priceless value to humankind.

Perhaps, these fishermen may be following orders by their bosses out of ignorance, or just maybe following old living practices of their fathers and fore-fathers, without knowledge of the changing environment.

So information needs to be disseminated to these maybe poor, illiterate, but rather unconscionable fishermen of our neighboring countries, about our stand on preservation of these adorable creatures of the sea, the turtles.

Hopefully, knowledge of the importance of preserving turtles will help to reduce and subsequently eliminate fishing of turtles in our waters, making our beaches conducive again to their laying eggs for continued generation of their species.

But then again, just "hopefully".