Project Orion II

American student on a mission to save terrapins in Malaysia

2011-05-23T11:24:00.001+08:00

She has placed trackers on terrapins to determine their habitat, growth, population as well as factors that could lead to their extinction.

SETIU, Malaysia - An American's passion to save endangered river turtles has led her far from home, all the way to Kampung Mangkok in Penarik here.

Margaret Leigh Perry, a student researcher from North Carolina, said the plight of the turtles, better known as terrapins, had often been her concern.

"I am passionate about turtle conservation, especially the river terrapin, as it is the most endangered in the region.

"That is why I am here in Terengganu, where the number of river terrapins is decreasing," she told The Star yesterday.

Perry, 25, said her nine months in the village had helped her understand the terrapins better as well as spread more awareness among the villagers on activities that might affect the terrapin population.

She has placed trackers on terrapins to determine their habitat, growth, population as well as factors that could lead to their extinction.

"I spend most of my time at the river, researching the terrapins. The villagers love to collect turtle eggs. Some of them eat the eggs while others sell them. Thus, it is important to educate them on the negative effects of their actions," she said.

Staying with a local family, the American popularly known in the village as Meg said the key to conservation was finding a balance between the people's needs and the needs of the environment.

Aside from her research, Perry also teaches English to the local children.

In the midst of it all, she has picked up a bit of Bahasa Malaysia.

"I started with zero Malay to being fluent in words such as tak faham (don't understand) and tak tahu (don't know).

"My favourite word is boleh (can)," she said.

Perry has taken a liking to the food, too, especially lempeng (Malay pancake), which can be eaten with curry or sugar.

"Although we are from opposite sides of the world, people are universal in their traits. Harmony can be seen everywhere," she said.

Perry, who is in the last month of her research, said she was looking forward to going home to see her parents and two younger sisters.

"However, this place and the people will forever remain in my heart," she said.

2011-01-20T00:10:00.002+08:00

2011-01-18T19:07:00.002+08:00

More male turtles needed

2011-01-13T16:57:00.000+08:00

GEORGE TOWN: Penang is trying to hatch more male turtles to mate with females so that the reptiles will not disappear from the island's coastlines.

The Pantai Kerachut Turtle Conservation Sanctuary is working to maintain a breeding ratio of 70 females to 30 males under a programme which began three years ago.

Department licensing and resource protection officer Mansor Yobe said they needed to have more male turtles for the females which come to shore to lay their eggs eight times a year.

"If we don't do this, there may not be any turtles left here in future," he said at the sanctuary at the north-west tip of Penang island.

Besides Green Turtles, the Olive Ridley Turtles are also known to lay their eggs at Pantai Kerachut, Pantai Teluk Kampi, Pantai Teluk Ailing and Pantai Teluk Ketapang on the island's north-west coast.

Mansor said records from 2000 until 2006 showed that close to 100% of all hatchlings at the sanctuary were females.

He said they then started testing various sites by burying the eggs in shaded spots under trees or in cooler areas to try to get more male turtles hatched.

He added that a shaded hatchery was built at a cost of RM16,500 (S$6,348) in 2009 to help determine the gender of the turtles.

"After collecting the eggs from several sites, we placed them in the shaded hatchery where the temperature is about 28.2 degrees Celsius.

"Eggs buried in the sand outside the shaded hatchery will produce females as the temperature there is hotter at 30 degrees Celsius," he said.

He said eggs at the sanctuary were hatched on the beach rather than in a temperature-controlled incubator because research has shown this produced healthier hatchlings.

He said last year, some 5,000 eggs were collected and 70% were successfully hatched.

"We hope to collect the same number this year," he said, adding that the peak period for turtles to lay eggs is between December and August.

Residents up in arms as endangered turtle dies in Bharuch lake

2010-12-06T14:43:00.001+08:00

The residents of Bharuch city took out a rally to protest against the forest department and local administration after an endangered turtle died on Friday.

Sources said the turtle — Ganges Soft Shell Turtle, a rare and endangered spieces found only in rivers like Ganga, Mahanadi — allegedly died due to high pollution level in Ratan Talav located in the city.

The residents were miffed as they claimed that in last one month, five such endangered turtles have died and the administration has failed to take any step to prevent it. The procession was cut short after forest department officials intervened.

"We have approached the district collector at least thrice in last one month. Each time, we were told that he would first visit the sit and than talk to us. But today, another turtle was found dead. We had planned to take the procession to the collector office but the forest officials suddenly came in between. They have promised to take some step soon," said Kamlesh Parmar, a city-based activist.

The forest officials, on their part, said they will approach the civic body to clean up the pond, which is home to more than 100 such endangered turtles.

Deputy Conservator of Forest R L Patel told The Indian Express, "The postmortem report confirms that the creature died due to pollution and filth in the pond. We have asked the civic body to clean up the pond."

Traditional hunters keen to help lift turtle numbers

2010-11-23T14:50:00.000+08:00

The Sea Turtle Foundation says it is confident turtle numbers will continue to grow, after educating traditional hunters on how to preserve the species.

David Row from the Townsville-based foundation has been visiting southern communities in Papua New Guinea with tips for turtle and dugong conservation.

He says hunters did not previously know a lot about the breading cycle of marine animals.

"Improve their understanding of their lifecycle, for example. When they start to understand, for example, that turtles may not start breeding until they are 40 years old, it really makes them understand the importance of protecting the breeding adults," he said.

Mr Row from says the communities are eager to learn new practices to save marine animal populations.

"Turtles and dugongs certainly provide an important source of protein for them. However, they have recognised that numbers are falling off and they have also recognised the importance of making changes that will help bring those numbers back," he said.

Behind the scenes at turtle hospital

2010-11-10T08:32:00.000+08:00

JOY and heartbreak swim side by side at Reef HQ Aquarium's fledgling turtle hospital in Townsville.

Despite the best of intentions and staff skills, not all injured and sick turtles brought in will survive to be rehabilitated and released into the wild.

On a behind-the-scenes tour of the multi-million-dollar facility in North Queensland recently, staff were caring for five green sea turtles.

It was the morning after the night before for Reef HQ Aquarium director Fred Nucifora when he met our media group bright and early.

He had had only a few hours sleep after attending the North Queensland Tourism Awards at Townsville's Jupiters Casino, where the attraction won three from three award nominations (Major Tourist Attraction, Ecotourism and New Tourism Development for the turtle hospital).

But his unmistakable passion for his work, the Great Barrier Reef and the attraction's educational value shone through regardless.

Like a proud father, he introduced us to the sick turtles. We met “Bianca”, “Esmerelda”, “Porty” and “Timmy”, who were responding well to treatment.

Bianca, aged between 10 and 15, arrived at the hospital on July 11 from nearby Pallarenda Beach, where a collapsed lung was causing her buoyancy problems.

With antibiotics and a high-protein diet of squid and fish, she was almost back to normal and far from camera shy, lapping up all the human attention.

Fred said Reef HQ Aquarium was seeking permission to keep Bianca, who also suffered from the genetic condition leucism, which gave her a light-coloured shell, almost like an albino.

Rather than release her off Pallarenda Beach, where she would not only stand out like a beacon to predators but also be susceptible to sun legions, staff wanted to use Bianca for educational purposes.

Like great aunts, our group clucked around her and the other turtles like newborns.

Finally, we said goodbye and headed up a few steps to the last section of the hospital.

And then we saw her.

With a 114cm shell the size of a large oval coffee table, the 70-year-old turtle had jammed herself in beside the water inlet pipe, as if trying to hide from danger. When we realised something was drastically wrong, our collective hearts went out to this beautiful, helpless creature.

Like many of the turtles who come through the doors of the turtle hospital, she had floating syndrome.

And that's bad when you're a turtle. You want to dive down to the bottom of the sea floor to eat your food source, seagrass, but you can't stay down. You are forced to swim around the surface, where you are easy prey for sharks.

“We see a lot of it (floating syndrome), particularly after the winter period,” Fred said.

“Like humans, they get colds, pneumonia, and lung infections. We see lots of juveniles (with floating syndrome), not just old turtles.”

Fred said staff refrained from naming a “patient” until they were confident the creature could be rehabilitated. And this one would need long-term therapy and a little tender loving care before she reached that stage.

Since being opened by the then Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett in August last year, the turtle hospital has welcomed 30,000 visitors. The facility also acts as an invaluable teaching facility for James Cook University's new veterinary clinic, with students helping out with duties such as blood analysis.

Typically, four or five turtles are looked after at any one time but, as Fred said, “we sort of find it hard to say no” and up to 10 turtles could be accommodated.

Anyone finding sick or injured sea turtles should call the Marine Animal Stranding Hotline on 1300 130 372.

Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Services make an initial assessment and either has to euthanase the animal if deemed unlikely to survive, or bring it to the hospital for treatment and rehabilitation. The hospital also has its own four-wheel drive turtle ambulance for emergencies.

While Cairns had its own turtle rehabilitation centre, demand was growing in Townsville, Fred said, partly due to greater community awareness of the plight of all turtles.

He said the hospital planned to open a second wing soon.

The turtle hospital was the final stop on our special behind-the-scenes tour, which can be booked at the world's largest living coral reef aquarium.

This was my second tour of the attraction, having visited with my family nearly 15 years ago.

The fascinating underwater world – home to 200 of the 1500 fish species of the Great Barrier Reef – brought back happy memories of snorkelling all over the Pacific, but what impressed me most this time was how nature could be so meticulously presented.

Fred outlined the painstaking processes involved including coral collection, monitoring, propagating, cultivating and “planting”.

To create the facility 23 years ago, 700 tonnes of limestone rock and 20 tonnes of coral sand had to be trucked in, with water barged in from the reef. A total of 200,000 litres of water must be replenished each month from the tidal creek next to the complex, which is fed by Cleveland Bay. The attraction has no roof, allowing natural sunlight to stream into the coral, and a wave machine on the right-hand wall creates the wave action of a reef break.

While Reef HQ Aquarium had a permit to collect coral for display, Fred said the long-term goal was to become self-sufficient coral “gardeners”.

FOOTNOTE: Bianca has since been released into the 750,000-litre predator tank to stretch her flippers and grow.

REEF HQ

Reef HQ is open from 9.30am to 5pm, seven days a week, every day of the year except Christmas Day.

The Townsville aquarium at 2-68 Flinders Street welcomes 200,000 visitors a year.

Phone 4750 0800.

Visit www.reefHQ.com.au.

Donations can be made to the turtle hospital: visit the website or email info@reefhq.com.au.

Of course, baby turtles were heading for water

2010-11-01T14:29:00.001+08:00

“LINNAEUS,” (Latin name for Carl von Linne) a Swedish botanist, established the system of binomial nomenclature and has been credited with naming the common snapping turtle in 1758. That was during the period when Linne was naming all the known species of animals.

This particular reptile was inquired of by one of our long-time Stratham readers who wrote, in part, on Oct. 10: “Last weekend we were taking a ‘backyard stroll’ when our daughter suddenly stopped and exclaimed, ‘Look, a baby turtle.’ Sure enough, it was a baby snapper. It was about as big as a quarter, but when I picked it up, it stretched its legs and clawed at my fingers. It was surprisingly strong, considering its size. We carried it to the edge of our pond and it quickly headed for the water and swam away.

“As we continued our walk, later in the day, we found four more babies, all headed in the same direction — to the pond. We did bring them inside and our daughter dug some earthworms but they were more interested in escaping. They struggled to climb out of the box — stepping on one another’s backs. So feeling sorry for them, we carried them outside and set them free. Again, they all headed in the same direction — to the pond.

“So tiny — will they survive the freezing pond and ice of winter?”

My answer is yes, and they may live to be over a hundred years of age. The snapping turtle, (Chelydra Serpentina) is the largest of the seven species of turtles found in New Hampshire and can weigh up to 40 pounds, according to my long-time friend Hilbert “Bandy” Siegler in his book, “New Hampshire Nature Notes.” In June and July female snappers are often seen attempting to cross our roads and highways searching for a suitable place to lay their eggs.

The turtle uses its hind feet to dig a suitable hole, lays her eggs, covers them up and leaves the scene as she has completed her reproductive duty.

Our reader’s baby turtles were doing just what they were supposed to do, head for water, where they spend most of their lives. Their feet are webbed so they are good swimmers.

Having no internal heating system means that they are “cold blooded animals” and they can only stay alive when temperatures approximate the air, earth or water surrounding them. Their lack of control of temperature means that they must hibernate during winter and seek shade when out of water to avoid direct rays of a very hot sun. Snapping turtles spend most of their time feeding on the bottom of lakes, ponds, and rivers. They eat vegetation as well as fish, small marine creatures, crustaceans, young ducks and geese, as well as carrion of all sorts.

A Manchester reader asked: “I have 26 birdhouses that are always full — never a vacancy.

Do I have to clean them out each year as they have to rebuild the insides?”

No, but an annual cleaning removes parasites and soiled material. Removing all material and hand washing the inside with bleach water as a disinfectant will help future nesters .

A Pembroke reader wrote, in part: “I have a question I wonder if you can answer.

We have a hummingbird feeder right outside our kitchen window. We enjoy watching the hummingbirds which have been abundant all summer. However, neither my husband nor I have seen a male hummingbird. The ruby throats are easy to spot so I know I have not seen any male birds. I believe in New Hampshire the ruby-throated hummers are the only species to be seen. Our birds are shades of green and vary in size. Any help you can give would be appreciated.”

As far as I know the Rufous hummingbird is the only other species of hummingbird that is infrequently seen in New Hampshire. Severalyearsago, thanks to a Hopkinton reader, I was able to photograph a male Rufous in their garden.

It is true that the male ruby-throat has a beautiful red gorget (throat patch) but the light has to be just right to see it, otherwise it appears black.

Generally speaking, the male takes very little interest in its young. The female builds the nest, lays two white, pea bean size eggs, does all the brooding and teaches the young what they need to know to survive. Occasionally, a male ruby-throat will buzz about the brooding female on her nest, appearing to offer some protection from predators, but rarely.

Most males, after mating, take little or no interest in anything but themselves, move about a territory and even begin their fall migration. Fledged young ruby-throats look much like females, so many more hummers can be seen at feeders in fall.

33 endangered turtles released into waters of Gulf of Mexico

2010-10-25T09:11:00.000+08:00

Rescuers on Thursday released 33 endangered young turtle into the waters of Gulf of Mexico; approximately 40 miles southwest of Grand Isle, Louisiana after a survey confirmed that the water is safe for creatures.

Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, said in a press statement, “We are able to release these turtles because they’re now healthy and we’re seeing recovery in the surface habitats of the Gulf of Mexico.

“They are being released within federal waters off the coast of Louisiana that earlier this month, NOAA reopened to fishing. This was another important sign of improvement in the health of the Gulf of Mexico.”

These turtles had been rescued by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Audubon Nature Institute, three months back from Louisiana, Florida and Georgia.

Then they were successfully rehabilitated at the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans, where scientists treated, cleaned and de-oiled them.

The turtles that were released in the waters on Thursday included species of green Kemp’s ridley, hawksbill and loggerhead sea turtles.

Rescue efforts paid off
Dubbed as the worst oil spill in the history of the United States, the spill began after an explosion on April 20 on the offshore drilling platform Deepwater Horizon took place, killing 11 men.

Within two days, the whole platform sank and oil started to take over Gulf waters, making everyone worried about the lives of sea creatures.

“They are being released within federal waters off the coast of Louisiana that earlier this month, NOAA reopened to fishing. This was another important sign of improvement in the health of the Gulf of Mexico,” stated Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

For the very first time scientists carried out a huge rescue mission to save the endangered sea species and managed to rescue over 500 turtles from the oil spill.

Around 400 of the rescued turtles were placed in rehabilitation as they were heavily oiled and need immediate treatment. However, those who did suffer much were released immediately (after running some tests) in other healthy habitats.

Rescuers not just started a mission to save rare endangered turtles but also began an unprecedented rescue mission to save thousands of rare turtles’ eggs.

On path to recovery
Many experts have welcomed agencies decision to release turtles into their natural habitat as it’s also an indication that Gulf waters is becoming safe.

"Returning this group of sea turtles to their home waters is ... a sign that Louisiana is on the path towards recovery," said Randy Pausina, an assistant secretary for Louisiana's office of fisheries.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to combat the residual oil left in the gulf waters, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has also started an initiative to build series of low lying sand islands in the Gulf of Mexico.

Endangered turtles sent to U.S. for new life

2010-10-22T09:44:00.001+08:00

Los Angeles, Oct. 20 (CNA) A total of 50 rare yellow- headed temple turtles arrived in the U.S. city of Atlanta Wednesday for new life through a cooperative effort by Eva Airways, the Taipei Zoo and the U.S.-based Turtle Survival Alliance, according to airline officials.

The Eva Airways flight carrying the turtles left Hong Kong Oct. 19 for Atlanta via Taipei.

The animals will be sent to the Turtle Survival Alliance, which will arrange for them to be distributed among various shelters around the country.

The officials said after being notified of the rescue mission through the zoo's Conservation and Research Center, the carrier agreed to help transport the 600-kg cargo for only a nominal fee.

The turtles were among a haul of 1,300 smuggled freshwater turtles that were seized by Hong Kong marine police in February.

The yellow-headed temple turtle, the largest freshwater turtle in Asia, is an endangered species.

Without the assistance of EVA Air, the turtles would have been destroyed in Hong Kong because their origin could not be identified, the officials said. (By Leaf Jiang and Olivia Wang) ENDITEM/J

Coral Reef Studies - Turtle, dugongs 'at risk under climate change'

2010-10-14T08:58:00.004+08:00

'Turtle and Dugong at risk' ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies ©

The 'turtle and dugong capital of the world', the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and Torres Strait region, faces increased pressure under climate change from human actions such as fishing, hunting, onshore development and pollution.

'Depletion of turtle and dugong numbers increases their vulnerability to other threats and lowers their ability to cope with climate change,' Dr Mariana Fuentes of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University will tell the Coral Reef Symposium in Canberra today.

Dr Fuentes says that turtles in particular are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which include decreases in hatching success, loss of nesting areas and overheated beaches, which will decrease the turtles’ reproductive output and may significantly alter the sex ratio of their offspring.

Dr. Fuentes’ research into the green, hawksbill and flatback turtles and well as dugongs in the northern GBR and Torres Strait is seeking to establish priorities for the management of marine megafauna to increase their resilience to climate change.

'Managers face the challenge of addressing the direct effects of climate change, as well as ongoing threats that dugongs and sea turtles face throughout their geographic range,' she explains. 'For logistical, financial and political reasons, managers cannot address all threats simultaneously, and so need to prioritize their actions.

Of particular concern is the effect of climate change on the gender balance of turtle population, Dr Fuentes says: 'The temperature of the beach sand determines the gender of the hatchlings – warmer sand produces more females while cooler sand produces more males.'

'Under current conditions the nesting grounds are already producing more females. With an increasing temperature, these turtles are at risk of stretching out the ratio, though we can’t yet predict exactly when it will cause an unbalanced population.'

'While sea turtles have survived large climatic fluctuations during their evolutionary history, modern rates of climate change are much faster, and are coupled with additional human pressures,' says Dr Fuentes. 'We still do not know whether turtles can adapt to modern rates of climate change.'

Turtle and Dugong at risk - ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies © Click Here to view large photo

Dugongs may experience indirect effects of climate change and human activity through impacts on their main food source, seagrass. Seagrass diebacks are linked to lower reproduction, increased mortality and emigration of dugongs.
Dr Fuentes has been working closely with indigenous communities in the Torres Strait region and northern GBR to monitor turtle numbers and condition and to track the movements of dugongs.

She says it will be important to take a range of short-term and long-term measures to protect turtles and dugongs from climate change, including:

* reducing the negative stresses that they are currently subject to.
* actively trying to change the habitat they use (e.g. by shading nests, re-vegetating beaches, and replacing lost sand).
* protecting areas that seem to offer the best conditions as refuges in the future.

'Turtles and dugongs have numerous roles – apart from their cultural and spiritual significance to the indigenous community, they are important for the tourism industry. Being at the top of the food chain also means that they have high ecological significance.'

The loss of these species would have a huge impact on the northern Australian marine environment and on indigenous communities, she warns.

'There are still many uncertainties over how turtles and dugongs will be impacted by climate change. For the time being the best prospects for their survival are to mitigate climate change (by reducing carbon emissions) and to reduce negative pressure on turtles and dugongs from activities such as hunting and coastal development.'

'However, as the impacts of climate change become more extreme, more ‘active’ adaptation strategies may be necessary. The success of each adaptation option will depend on climatic impact and local social, economic and cultural conditions, and therefore needs to be considered on a case by case basis, and at a local scale,' Dr Fuentes explains.

Dr Fuentes will be presenting the results of her research on Friday the October 8th at 'Coral reefs in a changing environment', at the Academy of Science’s Shine Dome. Media are invited to attend the coral symposium and interview the scientists.

Gulf Turtle Egg Relocation Judged a Success

2010-10-11T08:23:00.001+08:00

Finally some good news to report following the Deepwater Horizon summer. A massive effort to rescue thousands of turtle eggs appears to have worked. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is 14,676 hatchlings -- mostly loggerheads - from the roughly 25,000 sea turtles eggs that it moved to Florida's east coast from northern beaches.

With a hatching success rate over 50%, biologists have a lot to be happy about. Still, there remain concerns whether the egg transfer will impact the turtles later on in life. In particular, they still don't know which beaches the turtles will return to. As a report in Live Science noted, there's uncertainty about whether the relocation disrupted the process of imprinting, which allows female turtles to set up nests on the beach where they hatched. "Some think that imprinting occurs in the egg, others that it occurs as newly hatched turtles crawl towards the sea, and some believe that it may be a combination of the two. So it is unknown to which beaches turtles incubated primarily on northen Gulf beaches then released from beaches on the Atlantic Ocean will return."

Turtle nesting numbers up, surprising experts

2010-10-04T15:56:00.000+08:00

By DINAH VOYLES PULVER, Environment Writer

October 3, 2010 12:05 AM

With a month to go in sea turtle nesting season along Florida'scoastlines, observers are feeling pretty optimistic.

Nesting numbers are up at key beaches around the state that are used for tracking overall trends, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. That includes all three major species in Florida: loggerheads, greens and leatherbacks.

Loggerhead and green turtle nesting also increased locally this year, showing big improvements after dramatic declines in nesting last year.

Officials and advocates say they hope the increases mean some of the efforts to bring back the endangered and threatened turtles are working.

The results have been especially surprising for observers because nesting season got off to a slow start and they weren't optimistic, said Blair Witherington, a research scientist with the commission who is based in Brevard County.

"In years past, we've noticed cold water often puts a damper on sea turtle nesting," Witherington said. The water offshore early this season was "very cold," making it look like this could be a "very poor nesting season."

"Then the water warmed up and the sea turtle nesting season really warmed up," he said.

At beaches all along the local coastline, observers have been surprised and delighted by the number of turtle nests. At Canaveral National Seashore, with 12 miles in Volusia and 12 in Brevard County, it has been a "great" season, said John Stiner, resource management specialist. Observers counted 5,583 total nests over the 24 miles.

"We're quite a ways over what we've had before," Stiner said, more than 1,000 nests over the previous record high in 2000.

Elsewhere along local beaches it "looks like a very good year," said Beth Libert, president of the Volusia/Flagler Turtle Patrol, which monitors nests in Flagler County and north of Ponce Inlet in Volusia.

Keeping close watch over sea turtles can be an emotional roller coaster, with nest numbers fluctuating wildly from year to year, and hatchlings falling victim to any number of catastrophes. A rare Kemp's Ridley nest in Volusia this year caused great excitement, but the eggs never hatched. An evaluation showed the eggs were infertile.

Observers have been particularly concerned about loggerhead nests, which suffered a declining trend in the past decade after a climb in the 1990s. A jump in loggerhead nest numbers in 2008 had officials hoping things were turning around, but nest numbers dropped again last year, with just a little more than half the nests of the previous year.

This year, the loggerhead nests bounced back almost to their 2008 level, with 2,155 nests counted along the Volusia coastline. In 2008, there were 2,239.

"It has been very encouraging," Stiner said.

While a bit of celebration may be in order for a singularly good year, Witherington said one great season doesn't reverse the decline seen in loggerhead nesting during the past 10 years.

Experts are never really certain why the numbers rise some years and drop in others. A rise in one season may simply reflect the number of turtles that decided to migrate to nest, he said. The biggest influence on any given season isn't the overall turtle population, but the number of turtles that nest.

"Every year we're just seeing part of the population nesting," Witherington said. More nests over three or four years would mean an increase in turtle numbers.

Perhaps many of the conservation measures taken in the past couple of decades are having a positive impact, he said.

One of the "most important milestones" was a rule that took effect just after the turn of the century, requiring the openings on turtle excluder devices on fishing nets to be large enough to exclude adult loggerheads, he said. "That benefited nesting sea turtles a great deal."

It has also been a big year for green turtles, Witherington said, with nests still appearing almost daily.

Libert said two green turtle nests were found on Flagler beaches Thursday morning. Witherington was surprised to hear about the number of green turtle nests at Canaveral.

The seashore reports a total of 1,314 green turtle nests so far, with 409 of those in Volusia. "That's just absolutely unheard of," Witherington said.

"Green turtles are a unique success story," he said. "Back in the late '80s in Volusia County, there were probably just a handful of sea turtle nests during a season."

Turtle poacher sentenced

2010-09-30T10:03:00.000+08:00

An Agat man arrested on Saturday for allegedly trying to sell an endangered green sea turtle has been sentenced to five months in prison for committing the exact same crime in 2008.

Convicted turtle poacher Roque Chargualaf Inocentes was re-sentenced on Tuesday, according to District Court of Guam records.

In May of 2008, Inocentes and three others were caught hunting turtles with spear guns, files state. Conservation officers caught them with a turtle that had been killed with a spear through the breastplate, files state.

Inocentes pleaded guilty to four months later and was sentenced to three years of probation, court documents state.

He was re-arrested on Saturday after one of the same conservation officers caught him allegedly attempting to sell a 25-pound turtle for $125. The turtle died because it was pieced through the neck, court documents state.

As a result, Inocentes was charged with "taking a threatened species" -- the same crime he pleaded guilty to in 2008.

Even with his recent arrest, Inocentes could have had his probation revoked. District Court files show a federal judge was considering sending Inocentes to prison for other reasons -- like testing positive for drug use and skipping drug tests -- before he was caught with the second turtle.

Lost Turtle Found At Otaki Beach

2010-09-26T08:49:00.000+08:00

Massey University is scanning a critically ill green sea turtle that washed up on Otaki beach, a long way from her home in the tropics.

The 70-centimetre-long turtle was found by a member of the public Wednesday, with the animal taken to the university’s Manawatu campus, where she was discovered to be suffering from pneumonia and a fractured shell.

Usually, green sea turtles are to be found in tropical waters, its closest known habitat being Australia’s North Queensland coast, which is why the turtle was seen to be suffering from shock due to being in cold waters, according to wildlife veterinarian Kerri Morgan.

Vets have placed the turtle on an intravenous drip, including taping back her flippers to squeeze her through the CT scanner used for cats and dogs, normally.

Morgan says a lung biopsy will be carried out in a couple of day to find out what kind of pneumonia she is suffering from and how best it should be treated.

Once the turtle recovers, instead of deporting her to Australia which might prove difficult due to bio-security issues, she could be sent to an aquarium for rehabilitation.

Turtles are known to be quite resilient and it is possible, she might be able to swim home.

The Oil and the Turtles

2010-09-21T13:53:00.002+08:00

Every year, Rancho Nuevo, 900 miles southwest of the Deepwater Horizon blowout, sees a spectacular phenomenon: the arribada—mass nesting—of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, which has already neared extinction. This year, thousands of baby ridleys swam off toward a deadly new enemy.

By Alex Shoumatoff•

Photograph by Gary Braasch

WEB EXCLUSIVE September 21, 2010

Ridley-turtle hatchlings head into the Gulf in Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Of all the devastation in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the Deepwater Horizon blowout, no one single species is being directly affected as much as the critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle. Only 8,000 adult females nested in 2009, and the adult males are thought to be even fewer. Those that remain have been hit hard. Most of the surviving juveniles inhabit the waters 20 to 30 miles from shore, feeding and growing in the same currents and gyres that collected the bulk of the four million barrels spewed by the now capped well. There were confirmed reports of ridleys being burned alive in the pools of corralled, concentrated oil that BP had been burning off during the spill.

Almost every gravid female ridley lays her eggs on a single beach in Tamaulipas, Mexico, coming ashore in a unique mass-nesting event known as the arribada—the arrival. Kemp’s cousins in the Pacific, the Olive ridleys, also do this, but the other five sea-turtle species (and a small percentage of ridleys) are solitary nesters and don’t always return to the same place. The arribadas happen at Rancho Nuevo—a beach 900 miles southwest from the blowout. It’s only 200 miles south of Brownsville, Texas. Not a bad drive, only I’m told it’s too dangerous because three warring factions of narcotrafficantes—the Gulf cartel, the Zetas (former hit men of the cartel), and a local mafia called La Maña—have been having shoot-outs along it. Instead, I fly to Tampico, the sleepy port where the opening scene of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was filmed, which is 60 miles south of Rancho Nuevo. (Not that Tampico is immune to the violence; the week before I arrive, the naked bodies of five policemen were found hanging from one of its bridges, I am told by a fellow gringo who narrowly escaped being shaken down at one of the narcos’ impromptu roadblocks right in the city.) I’m met at the airport by two people from the federal agency that manages Mexico’s protected areas, and they whisk me to the nearby Hampton Inn for the night.

In the morning we are driven to the Rancho Nuevo beach reserve by its director Dr. Gloria Tavera. Its 20 miles of wild white sand are patrolled three times a day by guards on A.T.V.’s, and 20 times a day or more during nesting season. Dr. Tavera tells me that the arribadas are over, but that the white ping-pong-ball-size eggs, having incubated for 45 days, are starting to hatch.

Sure enough, at five a.m. on the second morning, we jump onto four-wheelers and bomb down to the South Corral, four miles from the camp, where dozens of the 800 nests from the June 3 arribada are erupting with hatchlings, about 90 per nest. The babies are three inches long and look like black rubber-toy turtles. They crawl down to the surf and, as soon as they hit the water, their angled forelimbs begin to flap wildly. Then they’re pulled into the breaking waves by the undertow and are off, on their own, into the great unknown. Guided by pure instinct, fueled by the remaining yoke in their waterproof belly sacs, they will swim straight out for five days or so until they hit the mats of sargassum, a golden-brown, free-floating marine algae (these lines of sargassum are often only 20 or 30 feet wide, but can extend for miles, and offer cover and food for the hatchlings). We don’t know how many hatchlings will survive to adulthood, but the most common ballpark estimate is only one in a thousand. Many will be picked off by sharks, many other species of fish, dolphins, and sea birds. Everything wants to eat them. But many more than usual will die when the clockwise currents of the Gulf carry the turtles directly up into the area contaminated by the Deepwater Horizon spill. “The internal damage from the hydrocarbons to the organs of the ridleys could make them unable to reproduce,” Dr. Tavera tells me. “That would mean extinction. But nobody knows.”

Her fears could be well founded. A new study of shorebirds finds that the ingestion of only a small amount of oil can cause lasting changes in brain function and behavior. The males’ pheromones are inhibited so they stop doing their mating behavior.

Conservationists rallied round the ridley in 1978, when human predation left them hanging by a thread. Poaching of the eggs—rich and delicious, they had long been part of the local diet—was stopped, and in l986, when only 600 females came back to nest at Rancho Nuevo, an American law was passed requiring shrimp fishermen meeting certain criteria to equip their nets with escape holes for turtles known as TEDs (turtle excluder devices). For a time, it was working. In 2009 there were 21,000 nests. Six thousand females came ashore over a two-day period that May, the biggest arribada in the 40-year history of the conservation program at Rancho Nuevo. But this year there were only 13,115 nests, the result of a record cold winter followed by three months of red tide, a toxic algae bloom that prevented the females from being able to access the beach. Then, on June 30, the beach was slammed by Hurricane Alex, and a thousand more nests were lost.

Barbara Schroeder, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association in Silver Spring, Maryland, thinks the spill is unlikely to spell the end of the ridley but it “is definitely a setback to the turtle’s recovery. We are going to have to enhance our efforts to get the species back on the trajectory it was on, and we will need to re-look at the most significant human threats—bycatch from shrimp and other trawlers and gill nets, hook and line-fishing, and boat strikes.”

That the four million barrels of oil seem to be dissipating more quickly than expected does not mean the turtles will no longer be affected. The oil below the surface concerns many experts. Kemp’s ridleys in nearshore areas feed on the bottom, which means they have to dive through the oil. What’s more, this relatively quick disappearance of the large oil pools was achieved because BP dumped nearly two million gallons of the highly toxic chemical dispersant Corexit into the Gulf—in some cases, without the necessary approval of the Environmental Protection Agency. Corexit, used to break up large pools of oil in water, is an alarmingly unknown entity. Scientists in Louisiana are just beginning to study its effects on marine life in the Gulf. They’ve discovered high levels of it in blue-crab larvae, which suggests the poison may have already entered the food chain, just in time for the start of Louisiana’s shrimp season. Blue crabs are the ridley’s favorite food.

Ed Clark, the president of the Wildlife Center of Virginia, who has been treating oiled wildlife for 28 years, tells me that the dispersant is like “putting a coat of new paint on a junk car.” The official marine-life casualty numbers, Clark maintains, are grossly underestimated. “If they’re saying 400 turtles were killed, I’d bet my house it’s more like 4,000,” he says.

“BP is responsible for the damages”—up to $50,000 per turtle, as per the Endangered Species Act—“but it is incumbent on the government to prove what [the damages] are,” says Clark. He has heard rumors that the cleanup crews on Grand Isle, Louisiana, which are mainly made up of prisoners, were bagging dead turtles and birds in plastic bags marked for incineration because no one from Fish and Wildlife responded to their calls. The F.W.S. agents were mainly focused on federally owned coastline. It may go beyond unresponsive government agencies. Clark also heard rumors that BP was deliberately burning oiled sargassum, even though living sea turtles were known to be still in the floating mats.

So the crisis isn’t over, as BP and the government would have you believe. It’s only beginning. The biological consequences of this disaster will be felt for years, over generations, like Chernobyl. And we may never know how bad it was.

Vancouver Aquarium volunteers help sea turtles recover from Gulf oil spill

2010-09-14T08:31:00.001+08:00

By Rhiannon Coppin, Vancouver Sun September 13, 2010 3:20 PM

At the Audubon Institute in Gretna, La., sea turtles suspected of swallowing oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizon rig are being fed mayonnaise and vegetable oils to help purge their digestive tracts.

To treat their exteriors, volunteers like Chelsea DeColle use Dawn soap, just as the television commercials claim. "It's the No. 1 detergent used to clean oil off oiled animals," she said.

DeColle, a 30-year-old veterinary technician on loan from the Vancouver Aquarium, tended to each of 167 turtles in her two-week volunteer stint at the Audubon centre in August.

Staff and volunteers repeatedly went through the same lists of animals -- the bulk of them green sea turtles -- checking their weights, appetites, wound-healing, medications and blood profiles, and sometimes taking radiographs. "Day to day was fairly similar," DeColle said.

The youngest and smallest patient, at one pound, was a two-year-old green sea turtle. The largest was a lone loggerhead of unknown age. Hawksbill and Kemp's Ridley turtles rounded out the temporary collection.

"Most of them were in fairly good condition and we were just maintaining them so that they could gain weight and meet all the criteria for release," DeColle said.

There were exceptions. One turtle that wasn't eating on its own was stressed at being fed through a throat tube. "The doctors ended up placing a tube that sticks out of the neck but actually goes to the esophagus through the skin," she said.

The skin was stitched up around the tube and the tube was glued to the shell, to make feeding a simple matter of injecting fish mush into the tube.

DeColle also visited with a bottlenose dolphin. "I got to participate in one procedure with it. We had to go in the water and actually take the dolphin out to put it on a scale and take blood samples," she said.

The additional training DeColle received and her exposure to new animals, procedures and people is a "win-win" for the Gulf Coast and for British Columbia, said Dr. Martin Haulena, 43, a veterinarian who helms the Vancouver Aquarium's mammal care team. Four staff veterinary technicians will each spend two weeks on the rescue effort.

"Certainly the animals and the people directly involved in the Gulf are benefiting from the expertise of some of the best vet techs anywhere," he said. "On the flip side, they're making friends and contacts and firming up relationships with other experts."

And should a marine oil disaster strike in B.C. waters, those connections will be vital.

Haulena's career experience has taken him to the front of many marine oil spills, mainly in California, where he worked for nine years, but also to the birthplace of the theory of evolution -- Ecuador's Galapagos Islands -- following a fuel-tanker spill in 2001 that killed many marine iguanas.

"There was a good amount of oil that could have potentially devastated one of the worlds' most beloved ecological reserves," Haulena said. "To have that kind of place affected by a man-made accident is a big deal."

An oil spill in B.C. would be an equally big deal, he said. Animals that use feathers or fur for insulation or buoyancy would be most affected. On the coast, an oil spill could wipe out flocks of migratory birds. It could kill many sea otters and other mammals, as we've seen on the Alaskan coast.

During DeColle's stint, 25 turtles gained enough weight to be released.

Project Orion 2 video

2010-09-11T02:58:00.002+08:00

Hi guys,

just to share some video we have just received from the video cam. enjoy..

Hot day in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve!

2010-09-09T15:42:00.002+08:00

Greetings to all readers!

Project Orion II team members made their way to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (SBWR) after a long break from the overseas trip! It was a day to get dirty and wet, not forgetting to mention getting sunburn too!

After everyone gathered at the isolated compound, everyone was given a short briefing and introduction by one of the staffs over there. Then we proceeded to our destination which was very far away from the information centre. However, no one complained and in fact, enjoyed themselves!

The scouts were given another briefing on what to do for the next few hours, which included picking up of rubbish, planting of mangroves. It was a no-brainer picking up thrash on the beach but strict instructions were made known to everyone to ensure that the plants were carefully planted into the muddy ground.

The team sincerely hopes that everyone who participated in this event brought back valuable experiences and knowledge where they can share with their friends and family members regarding environmental conservation!

As what our founder said, 'Leave this world a little better than you found it'. That is what everyone did and you can do it too!

Scientists Say New Turtle Species Found

2010-09-05T14:21:00.000+08:00

PASCAGOULA, Miss. – Scientists say they've found a new species of turtle in the Pearl River, and they've named it, aptly enough, the Pearl map turtle.

For a long time, scientists believed the Pascagoula map turtle was alone in the Pascagoula and Pearl rivers. That changed with the findings by Jeff Lovich and Josh Ennen, both with the U.S. Geological Survey.

The Pearl map turtle is 57th turtle species native to the United States and the 13th map turtle. Twenty-nine species can be found in Mississippi.

Lovich's research in 1992 led to his discovery of the Pascagoula map turtle and the Escambia map turtle, which is found in the Escambia River system. He told The Mississippi Press that he had noticed "very subtle differences between the turtles that lived in the Pearl and Pascagoula" rivers while doing research in the 1990s.

"I thought, 'Well, I'll leave those for somebody else to work out,"' he said.

That somebody was Ennen, who works for Lovich at the USGS Southwest Biological Science Center in Flagstaff, Ariz. Ennen discovered the Pearl map turtle while doing research on map turtle species for his doctorate at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Lovich said Ennen called him and said new genetic data showed differences between the Pascagoula and Pearl map turtles.

"The differences between the turtles in the Pearl and Pascagoula were significant and he wanted to know if I wanted to team up with him and run my analyses based on color pattern, measurements of the shell and those sorts of things and combine the data with his new genetic information based on DNA and we did that," Lovich said.

"The results were clear. They were definitely different species," Lovich said.

Lovich said the United States is a "turtle hot spot as far as biodiversity. The only countries that have turtles with the same biodiversity would be places like China and India."

The female Pearl map turtle is about dinner-plate-sized and the male is tea-saucer-sized, he said. The larger females can use their jaws to crush open clams while the smaller males eat mostly insects and fish.

Lovich said map turtles get their name from yellow lines on their shells that resemble roads on a map. The Pearl map turtle has an unbroken black stripe on its shell while the Pascagoula map turtle's stripe is broken, he said. The Pearl map turtle has less yellow coloring in its shell than its Pascagoula cousin, he said.

"The neat thing about rivers in the southeast United States, all the ones that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, they have amazing biodiversity," Lovich said. "In fact, Alabama probably has more species of clams, fish, crayfish, turtles than just about any place on earth."

He said rising and falling sea levels led to species being separated and joined over tens of thousands of years.

"It is a kind of a laboratory for evolution, if you will," Lovich said.

De-oiled turtles given new lease on life in the Gulf

2010-09-01T09:31:00.001+08:00

Assorted wildlife and law agencies pooled resources Tuesday to release 42 de-oiled Kemp's ridley sea turtles that were victims of the recent northern Gulf of Mexico spill.

The turtles were gently placed into the Gulf waters about five miles from Goodland by members of agencies, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Audubon Nature Institute, Mote Marine Laboratory, SeaWorld in Orlando, Walt Disney World and Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Veterinarian Dr. Kara Field had the whole mission close to her heart. Having traveled down from New Orleans after assisting with de-oiling for the past couple of months, she said most of the turtles were found off the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

“The first oiled turtle that was picked up from the spill came into Louisiana on May 18,” she said. “Since then, we’ve probably received about 100 turtles before most of the other places starting receiving them, so we got a lot of the really densely oiled animals.”

She said the oil completely covered their eyes and mouths, and was actually on their corneas, compromising their vision.

Field said it wasn’t a case of disoriented turtles washing up conveniently for de-oiling.

“We waited for a while … we thought we’d start seeing turtles coming in, but they didn’t, so NOAA and Fish & Wildlife made a decision to go out and actively look for them,” Field said.

According to NOAA, the turtles are the smallest in the world, weighing on average around 100 pounds. The turtles released Tuesday were about two years old and weighed 10 pounds.

“We were pretty shocked at how oiled they were,” Field said, “We had to used gauze to swab out their mouths. But we only lost three out of 194 animals.

The release area was chosen because it’s known that turtles favor the area, Field said.

Malaysian police seize smuggled turtle eggs

2010-08-29T12:25:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian marine police said Sunday they had seized 6,250 turtle eggs smuggled in from a neighbouring country to be sold on the island of Borneo as a delicacy.

Gan Ping Sin, the marine police chief of Sandakan, in Borneo's eastern state of Sabah, said the eggs, worth 11,250 ringgit (3,580 dollars), were seized in an operation on Friday.

"The turtle eggs were seized from a boat in the Malaysian water during our operation but the boat operator managed to escape," Gan told AFP.

"We believe the eggs are smuggled in from a neighbouring country," he said but refused to identify which one.

The turtle eggs have been handed to wildlife authorities, Gan said, vowing to step up police operations in the area which he said had seen "quite rampant" turtle egg smuggling.

Turtle eggs are openly sold in markets in parts of Malaysia. Turtles once arrived in their thousands to lay their eggs on Malaysian beaches but are now increasingly rare due to poaching and coastal development.

Under Malaysian law, it is illegal to collect turtle eggs without a permit from the fisheries department but steady demand for turtle products and eggs in Southeast Asia continues to drive the illegal trade.

This prompted environmental group WWF to launch a campaign to stop Malaysians eating turtles in April last year, in a bid to help save stocks of the sea creatures.

Endangered Hawksbill turtles released off Singapore

2010-08-26T08:51:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE — Thirteen endangered sea turtles born and bred in Japan were released off Singapore waters Tuesday as part of efforts to conserve the species.

The five one-year-olds and eight three-year-olds are the offspring of Hawksbill turtles donated by the Underwater World Singapore aquarium to the Port of Nagoya aquarium in 1997 and 2002.

They were brought to Singapore earlier this year and kept at the Underwater World aquarium before the eventual release into their natural habitat.

"I feel a sense of great relief because the turtles are where they belong,' George Balazs, biologist and leader of marine turtle research at the Hawaii-based Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center.

"Sea turtles in the sea," the scientist said after the last turtle swam into the water.

The three-year-olds were fitted with satellite tracking devices so that scientists can follow their progress.

The turtles were first transported in boxes from nearby Sentosa island and then released on a stretch of beach on Big Sister's Island.

They crawled down the beach to the water's edge and disappeared into the sea as conservationists, scientists, students and the media erupted into cheers and applause.

"This release project has our strong desire that we want to return those Japanese-born turtles to Singaporean sea (which is) the native place of their parents," said Makoto Soichi, director with the Nagoya aquarium.

Underwater World Singapore said cooperation was key to efforts to conserve turtles which are regarded as a delicacy in parts of Asia.

"We hope that our integrated and collaborative efforts will contribute to our better understanding of Hawksbill turtle behaviour and improve turtle conservation efforts," said Peter chew, deputy general manager of the Singapore aquarium.

Turtle soup is a delicacy in parts of Asia and turtle shells are crushed into powder for use in a jelly dessert.

The Hawksbill shell is also used to make products like combs, ornamental hairpins and glasses frames.

Witness the Hawksbill Turtle Tag and Release at Big Sister Island

2010-08-24T22:29:00.003+08:00

Underwater World Singapore hosted the Multidisciplinary Forum- "Turtles Towards Extinction: How Late are we? Is it too late?" to facilitate cross-disciplinary discussions. After the forum participants will also have the opportunity to witness the Hawksbill turtle tag and release at Big Sister Island. The preliminary results will be presented at COP 10* in nagoya, japan, in october 2010.

Below is the news reported on channel 8.

Baby turtles die, disoriented by offshore lights

2010-08-23T08:14:00.002+08:00

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. -- Baby loggerhead turtles in two southwest Florida communities have died after crawling toward land-based lights instead of the horizon of the Gulf.

Eve Haverfield, founder of Turtle Time, a nonprofit organization, said turtles from five nests in Bonita Springs and Collier County became disoriented because of lights illegally shone on the beach.

Haverfield said one nest near a home where two bright lights were aimed toward the beach had 112 eggs. She rescued 17 hatchlings still in the nest and three found crawling on a street.

Four were crushed and she believes 58 were eaten by birds or died from exhaustion.

All the turtle tracks led away from the water.

A Bonita Spring environmental specialist said he will send a notice of violation to the property owner.
-------------------

PO II input: To future Project Orion teams, keep this in mind so as not to shine your torchlights when you are releasing the baby turtles into the sea. =)

Oil spill update: Sea Turtle eggs relocation changes, President Obama visits Gulf

2010-08-18T08:54:00.003+08:00

Oil spill cleanup efforts continue and this past weekend President Obama visited Panama Beach, Florida to get a firsthand view of recovery in the Gulf. Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha joined as they enjoyed some fun activities as well. President Obama spoke at the Coast Guard base and assured the nation that recovery efforts were well underway. Additionally, the Florida Fish and Wildlife announced that they were ceasing the sea turtle eggs relocation program in two Florida counties: Franklin and Gulf. You may see a photo slideshow from President Obama’s Gulf Coast visit below.

The sea turtle egg relocation program has been a success but with the stop of oil flow in the Gulf of Mexico, authorities determined that the nests may remain in these Florida counties. Kipp Frohlich who leads the Florida Fish and Wildlife’s Imperiled Species Section stated, “The decision to move nests was made after careful consideration, and the decision to let the nests remain where they are required the same evaluation and weighing of the information. Just as we established protocols to move the nests, we developed a set of criteria to help us determine when it would be appropriate to discontinue or scale back nest relocations.”

Aerial flights were used to determine where locations of sargsssum were present. Tests were determined and visible oil was not found. Dr. Robbin Trindell who is a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission explained, “The patches of sargassum we examined contained abundant life, including important prey species for sea turtle hatchlings. It is very good habitat for sea turtle hatchlings.”

As of August 11, 2010, 209 sea turtle nests have been relocated and more than 6,000 sea turtle hatchlings have been hatched and released safely into the Atlantic Ocean.

Rare 'princess' turtle returns to Malaysia

2010-08-15T14:28:00.001+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR — A leatherback turtle has made a surprise return to a Malaysian beach after 32 years, a report said Friday, hailed as a "miracle" by conservationists and renewing hopes for the endangered species.

The leatherbacks -- the largest of all sea turtles -- were once a star attraction at Rantau Abang beach in Malaysia's northern state of Terengganu but overfishing, poaching and pollution caused the population to plummet.

The turtle, dubbed the "Puteri Rantau Abang" or Rantau Abang Princess and identified by special markings, returned last month to end a long dry spell of turtle landings which have been rare in Terengganu since the 1980s.

"It is a miracle that leatherback turtles are making a comeback to this area," Malaysian Fisheries Department director-general Ahamad Sabki Mahmood said according to The Star newspaper.

Ahamad said the turtle's return showed that Rantau Abang was being made a turtle nesting ground once again, and he hoped for more during the next possible nesting period between August 15 and 20.

The Puteri Rantau Abang, which was hatched in the area in 1978 and marked on its shell and left flipper, returned at a weight of 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds), measuring 1.5 metres (five feet) in length and 1.16 metres wide.

It was released back into the sea on Thursday, carrying a satellite transmitter which will help conservationists track turtle migration patterns.

"We expect Puteri Rantau Abang to head for Vietnam and Japan before heading to the Pacific," Ahamad said, adding that the turtle was also expected to travel to Indonesian waters and as far as New Zealand before returning to Malaysia.

Leatherback turtles have been around for the past 75 million years, surviving cycles of near extinction. Terengganu was the only place in Malaysia where leatherbacks nested.

In the 1950s, up to 10,000 female turtles struggled up the beach to lay their eggs each year, but by 1984 the number had fallen to 800 and in 2006 only five nests were found from two turtles, without any hatchlings emerging.

Apart from the leatherbacks, green turtles have also made a return to Malaysian beaches in recent weeks, but experts warned that the species is still headed for oblivion if habitat loss is not stopped.

Rare Malayan box turtles get new homes at Bristol zoo

2010-08-12T09:29:00.002+08:00

The reptiles are believed to have been captured in the wild in south-east Asia.

Five rare turtles that were confiscated from smugglers in Hong Kong have been rehomed at Bristol Zoo.

The Malayan box turtles were bound for China to be sold for their meat, used as pets or used in traditional medicine.

The creatures were some of 150 turtles of various species that were seized by customs officials in Hong Kong.

The turtles, which are in quarantine, are believed to have been captured in the wild in south-east Asia.

The customs officials worked with the Turtle Survival Alliance to find them new homes.

'Vulnerable species'

Tim Skelton, Bristol Zoo's curator of reptiles and amphibians, said: "We are pleased to be able to offer a safe new home for these turtles, which were likely to have otherwise been sold and killed.

"Exact information about them, such as their age, is not known.

"They could be anywhere between 10 and 30 years old, but we hope to breed them to help boost the captive population of this vulnerable species, as well as to highlight the plight of all south-east Asian turtle species."

Malayan box turtles, which usually live on the edge of swamps, streams or ponds, have been classified as 'vulnerable' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

They are threatened by the destruction of their habitat, and hunters.

A zoo spokesman said the five animal would join three other Malayan box turtles that had also been seized by customs officials 10 years ago.

More Sea Turtles Landing in Cherating

2010-08-09T15:01:00.000+08:00

KUANTAN: Turtle conservation in Cherating has shown positive results as more landings are recorded every year and about half the number are females hatched at the sanctuary.

Efforts taken by the authorities since 1980s have increased the landings from about 100 in the late 1990s to 252 last year.

To date, 252,184 turtle hatchlings have been released at the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary and 18,596 were hatched last year.

State Fisheries Department director Datuk Mohamad Mat Saman said this was a significant achievement for the turtle sanctuary as it had maintained an average of 260 turtle landings per year for the past 10 years.

He added that a sanctuary in Tioman was also collecting and hatching about 6,000 turtle eggs every year.

Almost all the turtles that land in Cherating comprise the agar species (green turtle) while in Tioman, 60 per cent consist of green turtles. The remaining are penyu karah or hawksbill turtles.

"We receive support from the locals, especially fishermen and their families, who help collect turtle eggs and send them to the sanctuaries," Mohamad said.

He was speaking after the launch of a turtle awareness programme by Kuantan district officer Datuk Mariam Ismail at the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary near here yesterday. Present were Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Centre (Tumec) head Syed Abdullah Syed Abdul Kadir and AquaWalk Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Simon Fong.

Mohamad said the number of dead turtles found in the state had dropped to two last year compared with 15 in 1999. Although there was no report of turtle eggs being sold in the state, he said the department had proposed a fine of RM500 as a deterrent.

At the event, four young green turtles were released into the sea, with one of them fixed with a satellite telemetry tracking device. The turtles were raised at the Aquaria KLCC after they were hatched at the turtle sanctuary in Cherating four years ago.

AquaWalk had donated the satellite tracking system while Tumec will bear the cost of the satellite connection service.

Green turtles return to Malaysia but future bleak

2010-08-08T13:06:00.001+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR — Green turtles are returning to Malaysia in their hundreds after being nearly wiped out, but experts warned Thursday that the species is still headed for oblivion if habitat loss is not stopped.

Thousands of turtles used to land every year on Malaysian beaches, but their numbers plummeted in the 1980s due to rampant coastal development and the plundering of eggs from their sandy nests.

However, landings have increased in the past few years in the eastern resort strip of Cherating, and some 350 -- mostly green turtles but also some hawksbills -- now arrive there each year, officials said.

Mohamad Mat Saman, fisheries department director in central Pahang state, said that initiatives such as new hatcheries and efforts to promote conservation had led to the improvement.

"This year up until June we had 200 turtles coming to lay their eggs," he told AFP.

"About 70 percent of them had previously landed in Cherating and we believe others were born here. All turtles which land are tagged."

"We received support from the locals and fishermen who collect turtle eggs and hand them to the sanctuary," he said.

Mohamad said that authorities have proposed introducing a new law to ban turtle egg consumption in Pahang state by the end of this year.

Turtle nesting sites are dotted along peninsular Malaysia's east coast, but the leatherbacks which were once common have now virtually disappeared.

Elizabeth John from conservation group Traffic said that while some turtle populations now appear stable, their numbers have dropped dramatically since the 1970s.

"Habitat loss is a major threat to green turtles and all other marine turtles that nest on Malaysian beaches. Infrastructure development along the coast near key nesting sites has impacted populations," she said.

"The local trade and consumption of turtle eggs is another threat to green turtles," she added.

John said green turtles are facing "the double whammy of losing their homes and their young", much as leatherback turtles did during the past few decades.

"It's heartening to see green turtles still returning to nest on Malaysian shores, but if we fail to address the threats that face them, we will be pushing them go down the same path towards destruction," she said.

Gulf Coast turtle hatchlings released on Florida's east coast

2010-08-04T08:27:00.000+08:00

Playalinda Beach, Titusville, Florida (CNN) -- One-day-old loggerhead turtles were set free adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center overnight, scurrying down a beach in the cover of darkness to begin their lives.

The baby turtles were hatched at a space center facility after being transferred from the beaches in the Florida Panhandle and Alabama.

Biologists believed 700 to 800 turtle nests were in jeopardy of perishing, with BP's oil lurking offshore.

"We would have 100 percent mortality if the hatchlings were not able to be translocated," said Jeff Trandahl of the Fish and Wildlife Foundation. "We are looking at relocating 70,000 to 80,000 turtle eggs."

Biologists have begun digging up nests and shipping them, courtesy of FedEx, to a large facility at the space center. So far, 13,000 eggs have arrived, and 2,600 hatchlings have been released.

The eggs are faring better than those in nature, project manager Jane Provancha said. More than 80 percent of the hatchlings have hatched.

Tom Strickland, assistant interior secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, witnessed the removal of the eggs and the release of the turtles.

"Out of all the tragedies and the difficulty of the oil spill, there are great stories," Strickland said.

Biologists will continue to remove, ship and release the baby turtles during the turtle season that runs through September.

Sea turtle eggs found at Mie beach

2010-08-01T10:06:00.002+08:00

TSU, Mie Pref. (Kyodo) Loggerhead turtle eggs have been found at a beach near a major industrial complex in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, for the first time since 2003, according to a local conservation group.

The 100 or so eggs, which are expected to hatch in about two months, were confirmed at Yoshizaki beach on Tuesday by the sea turtle conservation group in Yokkaichi after it received a report from a man who was fishing at night.

The ocean turtle, which spends most of its life in the sea with only females coming ashore on summer nights to lay eggs, used to come to the coast of Mie Prefecture every year, riding the warm Black Current from the south.

The area around the nest was put under protective netting Wednesday by the group's members so that the eggs are not dug up by animals or humans.

"We want to keep the beach clean and watch the eggs," group leader Kazutomo Mori, 42, said. "We hope to change the image of Yokkaichi from a town of pollution to a town where sea turtles come to."

Predators and Prey, and Catching Turtles

2010-07-31T10:07:00.000+08:00

July 30, 2010, 6:33 pm

Predators and Prey, and Catching Turtles

By ELEANOR STERLING

As I said in a previous post, scientists have noted a pattern of a higher ratio of “standing” predator to prey biomass on the atoll, which contrasts with most other marine and terrestrial ecosystems (for example, think about the small ratios of top mammalian predators to grazers on the African savanna). They hypothesize that extremely high rates of production in the prey, including algae; corals, clams and other invertebrates; and smaller fish, supports the predators. This is coupled with high rates at which prey are eaten or otherwise die (called “turnover”). Another possibility is that the larger-bodied fish can live on relatively low amounts of food for many years, even decades, when protected from fishing.

But this focuses on one habitat and one set of species interactions whereas there are many more relationships at Palmyra. Mobile predators, such as sea birds and pelagic sharks, may also be feeding elsewhere, or feeding on food arriving from elsewhere, emphasizing the connections across near-shore, deep-water and terrestrial components of the larger ecosystem. Researchers studying parasites are further showing how complex these food webs are. In a parasite-conscious food web, the larger predators are prey for small-bodied parasites. Graphically, “food chains” are in reality more like a bowl of spaghetti.

Green and hawksbill sea turtles at Palmyra are both predators and prey and thus we are interested in their population size for both basic ecology as well as conservation reasons, but counting turtles is no easy task. During our first several years of research on sea turtles at the Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge we only observed turtles at a distance while we determined how best to tally the population. They do not come ashore here like they do at basking sites in Hawaii or at nesting sites around the world; rather they range across the flats surrounding the islets, in the lagoons, and along the deeper fore-reef areas. They are also quite skittish, possibly because of high predator pressure, and if you approach too closely they zip away as fast as their flippers will carry them.

Eleanor Sterling

Earlier Posts From Palmyra

Ideally we would do a full census of all the individuals, meaning we count every single individual, but that is next to impossible given their behavior. We therefore count a subset and then extrapolate from this subset to the whole. Researchers have a number of population estimation techniques and we are using several of them for the turtles.

Our main technique relies on a mark-recapture system. But first we have to capture them safely for both the turtles and for us. We received special training from sea turtle specialists at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration for care and handling of turtles. We use nets, which entails setting up a short net parallel to shore and waiting for turtles who are heading out to sea, and we capture by hand, which takes excellent hand-eye coordination in order to grasp the front and back of the shell as a turtle whizzes past. Both generally involve a lot of splashing.

Felicity Arengo

A released turtle.

Once we have the turtles in hand, we ensure they are comfortable and kept cool (or warm if it is cold and rainy) and we work quickly to measure and weigh them, check for parasites or other organisms living on the shell or skin of the animals, assess their overall body condition and look for tumors. We paint numbers on the turtles that last for only a few months but are helpful for us to quickly recognize that we have already caught an animal.

We also place small acoustic tags on the shells of some of the turtles. These transmitters send information to a receiver array that the Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium has placed throughout the lagoon areas and let us know when turtles have passed by. We can use this information to understand finer-scale movements of turtles around the atoll. To understand how the sea turtle population at Palmyra connects with turtle populations across the Pacific, an important goal for our funders, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, we use a different kind of tag that sends signals to satellites. We have placed several satellite tags on adult males in the hopes of finding out where they go. We complement the satellite data with genetic analyses, which can help us locate nesting sites for these populations.

When we get back from working with the turtles each day, we still have a full load of work ahead of us, as we need to clean and restock our kits and prepare the samples we have taken, process photos, and enter data into spreadsheets.

In the evenings we also have lots of work reminding us of the outside world, including finishing revisions on a journal article some of us are writing and preparing peer reviews of two manuscripts by other authors.

We have had really great luck this week with the turtles and were able to catch several turtles each day. We finally (and to a great amount of rejoicing) recaptured several animals. Once we get an adequate number of recaptures we can start to measure growth rate in addition to estimating population size, but we still have a tiny ratio of recaptures to captures.

Turtle Feeding Habitats in Malaysia Unaffected By Coral Bleaching - Expert

2010-07-29T00:45:00.000+08:00

SANDAKAN, July 27 (Bernama) -- The coral bleaching phenomenon which poses a threat to coral reefs in peninsular Malaysia does not affect the turtle feeding habitats, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu Marine Science Department lecturer Dr Juanita Joseph said today.

This is because green turtles eat seaweed while the hawksbill turtles feed on soft corals and crustaceans, she said.

"Currently, coral bleaching in several islands in the peninsula have not affected turtle-feeding areas," she told Bernama, adding that it would only present a problem if the number of crustaceans in the area declined.

Local dailies reported last month that all islands off Terengganu, including Redang, where turtles feed, were critically affected by the condition.

However, the waters off Sabah were not hit by the phenomenon, especially the popular diving spots of Pulau Sipadan and Pulau Mabul in Semporna which are among Malaysia's turtle feeding areas.

Dr Juanita said turtle feeding areas in Pulau Redang were also unaffected by the bleaching, and there had been an increase in turtle landings although their number was small.

She said the bleaching condition could be attributed to many factors such as pollution, but it could also be caused by increased water temperature which kills a type of algae called Zooxanthellae.

"The green pigment of coral reefs is actually Zooxanthellae. When the algae dies, the coral dies too and its colour changes to white.

"The coral reef ecosystem is a productive one and when the coral dies, all other organisms in the area will be affected, especially fish," she said.

Dr Juanita said coral bleaching was a frequently occurring phenomenon but scientists had yet to figure out how to overcome the problem.

She said dead corals would usually recover but required a long period of time to return to its normal state.

-- BERNAMA

Turtles teach life-changing values like patience

2010-07-26T13:52:00.001+08:00

By Leti Boniol
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:11:00 07/25/2010

TURTLE ISLANDS, Philippines—It takes a mother turtle at least 30 minutes to crawl up the beach from the sea, two hours to look for, and dig a nest, an hour to lay 50 to 100 eggs and another half-hour to crawl back to the water. And it does this all by itself on Turtle Islands, a group of six islands found in Sulu Sea, south of the Philippines.

Looking for nesters at 7 p.m., a group of turtle watchers stop walking when they spot a turtle moving slowly on the beach. Park wardens have warned them that a turtle will head back to sea the moment it sees and feels any movement.

Sensing no obstacles, a turtle, carrying more than 50 kg of carapace on its back, will look for a place to lay its eggs, usually under the trees, taking a rest every minute or so to catch its breath.

When it finds a suitable site, it starts digging a pit with its flippers, about a meter-deep, and lays 50 to 100 eggs. At this stage, the warden says, the turtle is in such a trance, nothing can disturb it from its nesting activity.

After laying its eggs, the turtle will fill the nest with sand and return to the sea. It will meet other turtles, slowly making their way to the beach to do the same thing. Between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., most of the turtles will return to the sea.

The eggs will hatch only after seven to 12 weeks.

On Baguan Island, some 60 to 80 turtles crawl out of the water every night from April to August, the peak season for nesting that occurs year-round on the protected island.

Turtle lessons

Turtle watching teaches one the virtue of patience. You follow a newly hatched turtle slowly make its way to the sea, where it will chew on planktons and small fish until it grows and live up to 200 years.

It also teaches the importance of caring for the turtles’ habitat. You see the little ones leave the nest, only to be eaten by natural predators such as crabs, birds, big fish, alligators, sharks, and dogs.

Out of 100 hatchlings, only one turtle will return, 25 to 30 years later, to its natal nest, according to members of Conservation International-Philippines (CI-Philippines), an environmental nonprofit organization that has been doing research on turtles in the last two decades. It also teaches the Tausug and the Jama Mapun population how to care for this unique gift of nature.

It is rare for Filipinos to visit the Turtle Islands as it is accessible only to people who are doing research. Visitors have to fly in through Kota Kinabalu, then Sandakan in Sabah, and cross the border to the Philippines via a 45-minute speedboat ride.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) gives permits to special visitors who travel to Turtle Islands.

Ecotourism plan

Environmentalists and local officials in charge of the area have been pushing turtle watching as part of an ecotourism plan which they hope will spur economic development and conserve marine life in the area.

Romy Trono, CI-Philippines country executive director, says the national government has scant resources to improve the lives of the people in this fifth class municipality of Tawi-Tawi, much less enforce environmental protection laws. Nature-based tourism can salvage the so-called “frontline of conservation” in this part of the world.

Until a successful economic development plan is in place, the situation in the area can deteriorate, says Trono, who has been studying turtles for the past 28 years of his life, first with the DENR, later with the World Wide Fund for Nature, and now with the CI-Philippines.

Wildlife sanctuary

Turtle Islands is made up of six small islands, namely, Taganak, Baguan, Langaan, Lihiman, Boan and Great Bakkungan.

With a total population of 6,000, these islands are located within a 138,354-hectare marine sanctuary in the Sulu Sea, called the Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary (TIWS). The area was declared protected in 1999 under the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992.

The six islands and three others from Sabah, Malaysia, comprise the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area established in 1996 through a bilateral agreement between the Philippines and Malaysia. Together with a group of islands in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, these islands are said to be “the most important nesting areas of green and hawksbill turtles in Southeast Asia and the world.”

Turtles are important indicators of the ecosystem’s health, according to the CI-Philippines. Without them, sea grasses will not be trimmed and fish will be driven away to seek healthier habitats, explains Minda Bairulla, DENR protected area superintendent, who is based in Taganak.

Of the seven species, worldwide, five come to the Philippines, she adds.

Strict Protection Zone

Since the Turtle Islands was declared a national park 30 years ago, the various stakeholders claim success in helping stabilize the sea turtle population in the area, particularly Baguan Island, designated as a Strict Protection Zone.

In the past, islanders with little job opportunities were allowed to collect turtle eggs for food as well as to sell in the market. This resulted in a decline in the turtle population from the ’80s up to the ’90s.

Because of conservation efforts, the turtles are back, Trono says.

However, within the sanctuary, trawl fishing and the use of dynamite have gone unabated due to lack of patrol boats, resources and political will.

For example, 13 fishermen were arrested by the police on Taganak on July 17. Sacks of ammonium sulfate, dynamite, as well as 200 kg of dried and fresh fish were found in their boat. The culprits were released after they paid the fine for illegal fishing.

Turtle Islands police chief Norlito Mata says steps should be made to “regain the harmonious relationship” between the Philippines, where the fishermen are from, and Malaysia, where the fishing vessel is registered.

Area for research, study

With ecotourism, funds can be used to manage the site effectively and provide social services and job opportunities to the people, according to the ecotourism framework developed by Carlos Libosada Jr. and Architect Anna Maria Gonzales, consultants to the CI-Philippines.

The plan is for the 29-hectare Baguan Island to remain primarily a conservation area for research and study, with tourism supporting these endeavors. Thus, visitors will be made to understand that the island is a “research, educational and conservation pilgrimage destination with a premium.”

Only a limited number of visitors will be allowed to stay in a day. They will live in facilities made of light materials.

The nearby Taganak Island will be the entry point to serve as customs, immigration and quarantine port for tourism purposes. (The Philippines’ claim to Sabah, which has been inactive since the Marcos regime, is said to be making this process a complicated one, according to one CI-Philippines personnel.)

Visitors will be able to roam the island and interact with residents at daytime. Scuba diving, snorkeling and kayaking will be allowed.

Life changing

On July 23, ecotourism guidelines were approved in principle by majority of the members of the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) of the TIWS, says Orlan Maliwanag, CI-Philippines sea turtle corridor assistant.

The PAMB is a multisectoral, multiagency, policy-making body composed of 25 members representing the local government, the regional line agencies, the law enforcement agencies, ethnic and community organizations and nongovernment groups. It is headed by Arleigh Adorable, DENR Zamboanga Peninsula director.

It will take three years to realize this plan, according to environmental architect Gonzales, who believes strict guidelines will minimize the potential negative tourism impact on the island.

Herself a turtle watcher, Gonzales describes her experience with these sea creatures as life changing.

“If you know how to behave, if you’re responsible for your own wants, if you think you deserve to go to the Turtle Islands because you are a good spirit, then you are a candidate to visit and watch the turtles,” she says.

Last large Kemp's ridley sea turtle hatchling releases begin today

2010-07-25T08:40:00.002+08:00

CORPUS CHRISTI — Kemp's ridley sea turtle hatchlings from about 29 nests will be released between Sunday and Wednesday, Padre Island National Seashore officials said.

It is final large group of nests to be released for the 2010 season, according to a news release.

The releases start at 6:45 a.m. in front of the national seashore's Malachite Visitor Center and will be open to the public.

There have been 139 Kemp's ridley nests found on Texas coasts this year.

Officials recommend calling the hatchling hot line at 949-7163 to confirm the releases still are planned.

Only a few nests will remain in incubation after Wednesday, and all will be released by Aug. 15.

Over 30 turtles found dead in Guatemala

2010-07-23T09:16:00.002+08:00

GUATEMALA CITY: Over 30 dead sea turtles have been found mutilated and with signs of suffocation on Guatemala's southern coast, authorities said.

The turtles were found on the beaches of Monterrico and Sipacate, the National Council of Protected Areas said.

The animals died of suffocation after being trapped in fishing nets, the organisation said, adding that fishermen were allegedly using fish hooks in prohibited areas.

According to the country's laws, fishing nets must be equipped with turtle excluder devices (TED), which allow trapped turtles to escape easily.

The appearance of dead turtles was worrying because the nesting season has just begun and efforts to protect sea turtles are already under threat, said Jose Martinez, head of the organisation's hydro-biological resources department.

Six sea turtle species nest in Guatemala and all are in danger of extinction due to poaching, over-harvesting of their eggs and pollution.

Sea Turtles, Victims Of Oil Spill, Play Key Role In Ecosystem

2010-07-23T09:16:00.001+08:00

The devastation wrought by the BP oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico's threatened and endangered sea turtles could have even further-reaching effects because of the critical role turtles play in the ocean ecosystem, a new report says.

The report, from the ocean conservation group Oceana, is titled: "Why Healthy Oceans Need Sea Turtles: The Importance of Sea Turtles to Marine Ecosystems".

"Sea turtles are ambassadors to our oceans," Elizabeth Wilson, a marine scientist for Oceana said in a statement. "It is tragic that these magnificent animals are being killed by the oil spill. Each sea turtle lost as a result of the oil spill will further disrupt this marine ecosystem."

The report explains that sea turtles perform vital functions such as maintaining healthy seagrass beds with their grazing, making coral reefs healthier by removing sponges as they forage and keeping jellyfish populations in check.

Just as oil-coated seabirds visually represent the damage caused by the oil to the Gulf coast's shorelines, dead and dying sea turtles represent the mostly unseen toll that massive plumes of dispersed oil are taking below the surface.

Graceful and normally long-lived, sea turtles are particularly vulnerable to the effects of oil in the water, as the Huffington Post chronicled here.

Meanwhile, the ongoing mass relocation of hatchlings to Florida's Atlantic Coast has been guided more by hope and guesswork than by science.

Turtles threatened by litter at Eraring outlet

2010-07-23T09:00:00.002+08:00

BY DAMON CRONSHAW

23 Jul, 2010 04:00 AM

Anglers have been warned to stop littering at Eraring power station’s outlet and inlet canals if they want to keep fishing there.

Authorities say rubbish threatens marine turtles and questions have been raised about whether fishing should be banned in the canals.

Turtles are protected and threatened and at least three are living in the outlet canal.

John Larkins, of Toronto Bait and Tackle, said he was concerned for the turtles.

‘‘There’s a lot of rubbish down there, it’s ridiculous,’’ Mr Larkins said.

‘‘If the plastic bags or fishing line gets in the water, nine times of out ten the turtle will eat it thinking it’s a squid.

‘‘Greenies are trying to shut waterways down and this gives them an opportunity to say ‘why should you be able to fish there’.’’

Many bait packets were discarded at the canal and beer bottles ‘‘smashed all over the rocks’’, he said.

Turtle enthusiast Alison Dunne said turtles were a threatened species and marine debris was considered a ‘‘key threatening process’’.

‘‘How can they knowingly allow the two to be mixed?’’ she said. ‘‘They have talked about banning fishing activity when the turtles are present, but no one wants to say it because it’s so unpopular.’’

A Department of Environment and Climate Change spokeswoman said the community should be aware of the ‘‘devastating effect of discarding disused or tangled fishing line and other debris’’.

‘‘Entanglement and ingestion of debris, such as plastic bags, cigarette butts, lolly wrappers and discarded fishing gear can be fatal to marine species, particularly threatened species such as turtles, seabirds and whales,’’ she said.

The creatures ‘‘don’t know the difference between harmful debris and food until it becomes stuck in their stomachs.’’

An Eraring spokeswoman said the outlet was cleaned daily and extra clean-ups were done during school holidays at the inlet canal.

Gulin

Over 1,500 Turtle Eggs Confiscated

2010-07-23T08:44:00.001+08:00

Written by Azlan Othman

Bandar Seri Begawan - A total of 1,520 turtle eggs were confiscated by the authorities and saved from ending up in the melting pot, in one of several cases recorded by the police over the past four days.

Among other items seized in the same period were alcoholic drinks and cigarettes without the health warning.

The seizures led to the detention of five foreign individuals. Fifteen theft cases were also reported from a Kg Sg Tilong shop, Kg SgHanching, car park at a flat in Berakas Camp, car park at a government flat in Kg Rimba, the RIPAS Hospital area, Jln Tungku Link, Kg Rimba, Kg Tasek Meradun, Kg Tanjung Bunut, Kg Mulaut Lubuk Sigurun, Kg Selayun, Kg Bebuloh in Jln Limau Maths, Kg Lumapas, Kg Tanah Burok in Penanjong and Kg Sg Damit in Tutong.

The items reported stolen were jewellery, important documents, 28 road signboards, a laptop, a DVD player, three handphones, a Playstation console, four tyres and rims, a car battery, and foreign and local currencies worth B$2,115.

The Marine Police meanwhile conducted 49 sea patrols in a bid to contain smuggling and to maintain security in Brunei waters, while a four-digit lottery activity was also foiled leading to the confiscation of cash and a car as well as the detention of a local man.

One rape case involving a 13-yearold victim, two arrest warrants on two locals for thefts, an attempted theft case in which two men aged 26 and 27 were nabbed, a fraud case, and a case of recovering stolen items.

Also recorded in over the past four days were cases of vandalism (1), runaway maid (6), runaway employee (1) and assault (5), with three men and a woman questioned.

The police also recorded one case of recovering a stolen vehicle, a Toyota Carina that was reported missing on July 13 from the project site near a Seria workshop; three misuse of drugs cases with three local men and a foreign woman nabbed; one case of unpaid wages and four Immigration violations with two foreign men and two foreign women apprehended.

Also reported in the past four days were 43 car accidents involving 18 , collisions, 22 self-accidents, one "car and motorcycle" collision and two cases of motorists knocking down cyclists.

As a result, one person sustained serious injuries and another four had minor injuries. Twenty-six accident cases were reported in the Brunei-Muara District, 10 in Belait District, seven in Tutong District and none in Temburong District. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Gulin

First Baby Sea Turtles Rescued From Gulf Are Released

2010-07-23T08:40:00.003+08:00

Endangered wildlife from the gulf region get a chance at life.

Story by Sharon Seltzer, originally published July 2010 on Care2.

After 88 stressful days, the Gulf oil spill seems to be contained and there is good news to report about one group of animals that was threatened. With help from NASA, the first group of baby sea turtles that were part of the massive effort to save endangered wildlife from the dangerous oil-filled water was released into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Associated Press revealed that fifty-six young sea turtles were released on a beach at Canaveral National Seashore in Florida, on July 11. They were part of a group of sixty-seven eggs that were collected June 26 from a nest along the Florida Panhandle and delivered to a temperature-controlled warehouse at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for incubation.

NASA reported that twenty-two of the hatchlings were endangered Kemp's ridley turtles while the others were loggerheads. The remaining eleven eggs from the group did not hatch.

NASA is currently caring for 1,100 eggs at the space center incubation site. This is part of an overall plan to rescue 70,000 eggs from sea turtle nests buried in the sand on beaches along Alabama and Florida before they can hatch and swim into the hazardous water.

Scientists were torn between the consequences of intervening to save the eggs or to leave them alone. They knew the stress of moving the eggs could kill some of the turtles, but if they didn't help they realized many of hatchlings would die from the oil.

They chose to remove the eggs or run the risk of — "killing off an entire generation of an already imperiled species."

A rescue mission of this size has never been done before so NASA scientists and the rescue teams of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA were very happy to see the first group of hatchlings doing so well.

David Godfrey, executive director of the Florida-based Sea Turtle Conservancy told the AP, "The first successful release of hatchlings brings hope that more will survive. It definitely shows that we're on the right track."

The turtle eggs were originally sent to NASA in their nests and gently placed in Styrofoam boxes. They were then transported in specially equipped trucks. Once at NASA the eggs were monitored around the clock until their incubation was complete. They were transferred back to the beach in the Styrofoam boxes for an evening release.

I hope you will watch this interesting video filmed by NASA television about the incubation process and historic release.

Gulin

Gulf animal deaths confuse scientists

2010-07-23T08:17:00.002+08:00

Scientists are trying to track down the cause of a growing mystery: Most of the animals that have turned up dead along the Gulf of Mexico since BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill don’t show visible signs of oil contamination, according to The New York Times.

The vast majority of animals found in the waters and studied by scientists since the spill in April—1,866 birds, 436 sea turtles, 59 dolphins and one sperm whale—are in this mysterious category.

Evidence is circulating about a possible culprit, and most of the turtle cases point toward shrimping and other commercial fishing. Other theories point to oil fumes, oiled food and the dispersants that are being used to break up the oil. Some theories point to disease.

The problem seems to be especially bad in Mississippi, where more than half the dead turtles have been found. Scientists will continue to study the dead animals in the months to come. The outcome of their studies will help determine how many millions BP will pay in penalties.

Gulin

Philippines drops turtle poaching charges

2010-07-23T08:15:00.002+08:00

The turtle fishermen argued they were not aware they were in Philippine seas. [ABC]

Shirley Escalante, Manila

Last Updated: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:38:00 +1000

Philippine authorities have dropped charges against nine Chinese fishermen, caught poaching turtles in Philippine territory.

But non government organisations say the move endorses Chinese incursions into Philippine waters.

Civil society groups have criticized the government for allegedly adhering to a de facto foreign policy of condoning repeated Chinese incursions into Philippine territory.

The justice department has upheld the respondents' argument that they were not aware they were in Philippine seas since they were guided by a Chinese map that indicated the entire south China sea as part of China's territory.

The nine Chinese fishermen were arrested in May for poaching turtles in Philippine waters.

The Bureau of Fisheries has asked the justice department to reverse its decision.

Gulin

High waves taking toll on Palm Beach County's sea turtle nests

2010-07-22T09:12:00.000+08:00

Richard Graulich/Palm Beach Post

Rescued loggerhead turtle hatchlings smim in a tank at the Marine Life Center in Juno Beach Thursday afternoon, July 22, 2010.

JUNO BEACH — Strong winds and waves the past few days are exposing turtle nests by washing away sand and tossing back hatchlings struggling to crawl to the ocean.

And weather through the weekend isn't looking any better as a tropical storm passes close to Florida.

"If these winds and waves keep up, it could get worse," said Kelly Martin, a biologist at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach. The center rescues turtles and counts turtle nests between MacArthur Park and the Jupiter Inlet.

About 40 nests, each containing about 100 eggs, have been exposed in north county beaches this week. The eggs, which were damaged and could not be hatched, were found by beach goers and Marinelife employees.

South county officials have had to move twice as many nests as usual because the dry weather caused female turtles to dig their nests too close to the high-tide line, said Kirt Rusenko, marine conservationist at Boca Raton's Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Moving nests saves the eggs from being washed away, Rusenko said.

But others say unearthing and moving the eggs is just as dangerous.

"It's better to let nature take its course," said Dan Bates, head of the county's environmental enhancement and restoration division. The county is responsible for turtle nests in the central part of Palm Beach County.

The good news is that nesting numbers are up for loggerheads and green turtles. Nesting numbers are about the same as previous years for leatherbacks, Bates said.

"So far, it's been a good year," he said.

Anyone who finds a damaged sea turtle egg should leave it on the sand and report the location to authorities. Hatchlings can be brought to Marinelife, Gumbo Limbo or other beach officials.

Each year, close to 8,000 hatchlings - about the size of a silver dollar - are dropped off by beachgoers at Gumbo Limbo, on A1A just north of Palmetto Park Road. About 85 percent are let go by Gumbo Limbo officials on the beach that same night, using darkness to help the hatchlings avoid fish and birds.

The remaining hatchlings are kept for a week or so to regain their health. They are then taken out to the weed line and released, Rusenko said.

More than 90 percent of the county's turtle nesting happens north of the Lake Worth Inlet in Palm Beach. The type of beach sand, the distance of the continental shelf from shore and the wave actions are among the reasons, Bates said.

But Rusenko blames too much beachfront lighting and crowded beaches for the smaller numbers in south county.

"The dunes are higher in north county. The lower dunes here let in lighting to the beach at night. That scares the nesting turtles away," Rusenko said.

An egg from a loggerhead turtle nest south of the Juno Beach Pier Thursday afternoon, July 22. Several nests have been unearthed by recent erosion across Palm Beach County.

Eggs from a loggerhead turtle nest are exposed to the elements south of the Juno Beach Pier Thursday afternoon, July 22, 2010. Several nests have been unearthed by recent erosion across Palm Beach County.

Pictures: Baby Gulf Turtles Released Into Atlantic

2010-07-22T09:02:00.004+08:00

Digging for Turtle Eggs

Photograph courtesy Bonnie Strawser, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Federal workers remove sea turtle eggs from a nest in Alabama's Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge on June 27.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently began arranging the relocation of some 70,000 rare sea turtle eggs from 700 Gulf Coast nests in the path of the BP oil spill. All seven of the world's sea turtle species—four of which nest in the Gulf—are considered threatened or endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

(Gulf Oil Spill Pictures: Birds, Fish, Crabs Coated.)

If left alone, Gulf sea turtle hatchlings—which crawl through sand layers to leave their underground nests—could get injured or killed through contact with buried oil on their way out to sea, said Riley Hoggard, a resource-management specialist for Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Many turtles annually nest on the protected seashore, which includes sites in both Florida and Mississippi. (See sea turtle pictures.)

In part to address such threats, the babies were hatched in a special facility in a warehouse at eastern Florida's Kennedy Space Center and are being released on several Atlantic Ocean beaches throughout summer 2010—on the other side of the state from the Gulf.

—Christine Dell'Amore

Published July 22, 2010

Leatherback Egg-Layer

Photograph by Steve Winter, National Geographic

The largest sea turtle species, the leatherback sea turtle (above, a female laying eggs in Costa Rica) is one of five sea turtle species that nest on Gulf of Mexico beaches.

Each summer, under the cover of night, female sea turtles climb onto beaches, dig holes with their flippers, deposit clutches of eggs, and return to Gulf waters.

About two months later, the hatchlings break out of the eggs, pop out of the sand, and make a quick scramble back to the Gulf to continue the life cycle.

Published July 22, 2010

Eggs in One Basket

Photograph courtesy Bonnie Strawser, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. effort to relocate the sea turtle eggs—such as these removed from a nest in Alabama's Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge on June 27—hinges on an understanding of the turtles' internal magnetic "maps," Hoggard said.

These maps—apparently "tuned" to Gulf beaches during incubation—should point the animals back to their native Gulf waters, even with the entire Florida Peninsula in their way, he said.

But he admits the massive sea turtle rescue operation is "uncharted territory" and could fail. "We can't afford to lose a generation of them," he said. "That's what gnaws at your stomach."

Published July 22, 2010

Turtle-Egg Protection

Photograph courtesy Denise Rowell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists Dianne Ingram, left, and Lorna Patrick observe excavated sea turtle eggs in a temperature-controlled container in Port St. Joe, Florida, in a recent picture.

In addition to direct contact with oil, turtles and their eggs could be harmed by nighttime oil-spill cleanup operations, according to a statement by the Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center.

For instance, bright lights, heavy machinery, and foot traffic may all disturb or injure nesting sea turtles. And hatchlings that use the moon as a compass may be disoriented by lights from cleanup crews.

Published July 22, 2010

Turtles in Waiting

Photograph courtesy Kim Shiflett, NASA

The first group of the excavated Gulf sea turtle hatchlings are pictured recently in a Kennedy Space Center warehouse before being released into the Atlantic Ocean off eastern Florida.

The eggs—which take about 60 days to hatch—were allowed to incubate for 50 days in their native nests and spent the remaining 10 in a temperature-controlled warehouse.

(See related video: "'Cold Stunned' Turtles Get NASA Rescue.")

Published July 22, 2010

Into the Wild

Photograph courtesy Kim Shiflett, NASA

Scientists release Gulf of Mexico sea turtle hatchlings onto the beaches of Cape Canaveral, Florida, in a recent picture.

Most of the released babies are loggerhead sea turtles, though some could also be Kemp's ridley sea turtles, leatherback sea turtles, and green sea turtles, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service national sea turtle coordinator Sandy MacPherson said in a statement.

Published July 22, 2010

Intrepid Turtles

Photograph courtesy Kim Shiflett, NASA

The first Gulf sea turtle hatchlings enter the Atlantic Ocean in early summer 2010.

It may be 15 years before these hatchlings mature and return to Gulf waters to nest themselves, Hoggard said—if they do at all.

"We're giving up a whole generation of turtles," he said, "with the hopes that they'll come back."

Published July 22, 2010

Gulin

Why taking home 1 wild turtle could hurt the entire population

2010-07-22T08:55:00.001+08:00

Shelburne, Vermont - July 22, 2010

Wood turtles used to flourish in Vermont but their population has rapidly declined, due in large part, to humans. Steve Parren of the Vt. Fish and Wildlife Department studies turtles, like the snapper. He says wood turtles are a species of greatest conservation need. It is illegal in Vermont to possess native turtle species. Yet they are still traded and sold through dealers. Parren says even moving a turtle in the wild can have disastrous results.

"Even if you take it home to show your family, then release it, it's lost. They know their habitat, know the landscape that they live in, and when you remove them all bets are off," Parren said.

Most of the time people do not realize that taking a turtle is illegal. But Parren says the results are long lasting.

"So if somebody takes a pet home, that turtle is not here, it is not passing on its genes, it is not producing the replacements that we need to replace," Parren said. "So just removing a couple of adults can cause the population to decline and possibly to blink out."

Human contact also affects other species as well. Licensed wildlife rehabilitator Ellen Jarecki gets a number of calls every day. While she is licensed by the state, she does not have a permit to photograph or show the animals she is working with. The state made an exception for WCAX on this day for educational purposes only.

The general rule is if a baby bird has feathers and is hopping on the ground, leave it alone. The parents are still taking care of it. But there are exceptions, like if the bird is injured.

"If the bird does not have all its feathers, or is part naked or completely naked, I call that a bird emergency. It needs to be taken in and a rehabilitator needs to be called," Jarecki said.

So when you come across wildlife it is best to leave it alone or if you have to, call an expert.

Judy Simpson - WCAX News

New Turtle Species Discovered

2010-07-22T08:20:00.002+08:00

Image comment: Pearl River backwater, Ratliff, Mississippi
Image credits: Charlie Brenner on Flickr

The number of US native turtle species just went up to 57, as a new kind of turtle was discovered. No larger than a small plate, the Pearl River map turtle can only be found in the Pearl River in Mississippi and Louisiana.

US Geological Survey scientists Josh Ennen discovered this new species while preparing his PhD dissertation. The turtle, who's new scientific name is Graptemys pearlensis, is a remnant of the fluctuations of the sea-level between glacial and interglacial periods, more than 10,000 years ago. The differences in the sea-level isolated map turtles in several rivers along the Gulf Coast. Some of the turtles evolved and became unique species restricted to a single river system.

Until now, this turtle species was confused with another from a nearby river, the Pascagoula map turtle. Just like it, the Pearl River map turtle is a reptile that lives in freshwater large or medium rivers. Males are smaller than females (4 to 6 inches) and mainly eat fish and insects, and sometimes some molusks. Females measure between 6 and 11 inches as adults and feed on clams, that they open thanks to the large surfaces on their jaws.

Josh Ennen, the first to discover this turtle species, said: “The Pascagoula River map turtle was one of the only map turtle species believed to occur in two major drainages. I thought it was strange that it was such an anomaly. My professors, Brian Kreiser and Carl Qualls at the University of Southern Mississippi, encouraged me to look further, so I started doing genetic research on the turtles from the Pearl River and the turtles from the Pascagoula River.” As he began to discover genetic differences between the two species, he called Lovitch, who had previously found and named the last two turtle species, back in 1992.

Though differences between the Pearl River map turtle and the Pascagoula River map turtle are very subtle (a discontinuity in a black stripe on the back), genetic data showed that they are from two different species.

Ennen said: “We don’t know as much as we sometimes think we do. When people think about discovery and new species, they think of rainforests, or unexplored and isolated countries. Coming from southern Mississippi, I basically found this turtle in my own backyard.”

This discovery, made by both Ennen and Jeff Lovitch, is published in Chelonian Conservation and Biology. Unfortunately neither Ennen nor Lovich think another turtle species will be discovered very soon.

Gulin

2010-07-21T08:18:00.002+08:00

An endangered painted turtle, showing its yellow stripes and brilliantly coloured undershell, pops out of the water. A previously unknown population of the native freshwater turtle has been found in Metchosin.
Photograph by: Todd Carnahan, Habitat Acquisition Trust

When Todd Carnahan saw the photo of a turtle that had wandered into a Metchosin garage, he was elated.

The picture showed signature yellow body stripes and vivid red markings on the belly shell, which clearly identified it as a western painted turtle. It was the first time one of the endangered reptiles had been seen in Metchosin.

"We have never had any reports from the Bilston Creek watershed. It's a population which is new to science," said Carnahan, who serves as land care co-ordinator for the Habitat Acquisition Trust and is asking residents with wetlands on their properties to photograph the distinctive reptiles and phone in sightings.

"Residents may have seen them before, but didn't know the significance and that they are endangered. If it has got a red bottom, it's the one we are looking for."

The garage turtle and another one reported in the area, but not photographed, appear to be healthy, nesting females, meaning they could be the tip of a population iceberg, said Carnahan, who is hoping HAT researchers will find a thriving colony in the ponds, wetlands and watershed, which drain into Witty's Lagoon.

There are also unsubstantiated reports of another population in the Cowichan Valley, but Carnahan isn't getting excited yet, as it's possible there could be remnant populations with no breeding females, since turtles live for 50 years.

About 250 turtles are believed to remain in the Pacific coast population. The numbers are threatened by development on ancestral nesting sites, roads and loss of natural cover on wetlands.

In previous decades, populations would use wetland corridors to link up and breed, but many of those are now blocked.

A new tool in turtle tracking will help identify corridors and provide essential information, such as where the Metchosin turtle population is hanging out. A grant from the provincial Habitat Conservation Trust Fund will allow HAT biologists to attach tiny transmitters to turtle shells.

The contribution of about $7,000 will buy equipment for the high-tech telemetry project, but staff funding is needed and HAT is looking for partners, Carnahan said.

Painted turtles, the only native turtle left on Vancouver Island, are known to live in Elk and Beaver lakes, Langford Lake, Eagle Lake and Great Central Lake near Port Alberni.

They travel up to 300 metres from ponds and wetlands to their nesting areas -- and that's often when they get into trouble.

Signs on Beaver Lake Road warn drivers to slow down to avoid hitting turtles on the move, and Carnahan is hoping similar signs will be erected near Eagle Lake in the Highlands.

"Every year, the turtles come out of the lake and there's a dangerous stretch of road there. A big nesting female looks like a rock if you're going too fast."

Gulin

Ignorance, Obstacles Hamper U.S. Sea Turtle Protection, Experts Find

2010-07-16T20:50:00.000+08:00

Environment News Service 15 Jul 10;

WASHINGTON, DC, July 15, 2010 (ENS) - Population sizes of the six species of sea turtles listed as either endangered or threatened in the United States cannot be accurately determined based on available information, says a report released today by the National Research Council.

Reviews of federal sea turtle population assessments and research plans are not sufficiently rigorous and transparent, and there are unnecessary obstacles to the collection and analysis of critical data, including the process for issuing research permits and inadequate training of scientists, finds the committee that wrote the report.

The committee of turtle experts from Oregon State University, the University of Hawaii, Duke University, Old Dominion University, the University of Massachusetts, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the University of Queensland, Australia does not evaluate the cause of sea turtle declines or conduct its own assessment of sea turtle populations.

But the expert panel finds that key data regarding birth and survival rates, breeding patterns, and other information will be required to predict and understand changes in populations and create successful management and conservation plans.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should develop a national plan to assess sea turtle populations, improve the coordination of collecting data and sharing it with other organizations, and establish an external review of the data and models used to estimate the current sea turtle population and predict future population levels, the committee advises.

"The biggest obstacle to assessing the status of sea turtle populations is that we know little about key characteristics of these creatures, such as what size they are at different ages, the average proportion of turtles that will survive through each year, and their growth rates," said Karen Bjorndal, chair of the committee that wrote the report and professor of biology and director of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida, Gainesville.

"Sea turtles can live for many decades, and can take more than 30 years to reach reproductive maturity," said Bjorndal. "When more is known about their ages, distribution, and genetic differences, models can provide better population estimates and help us understand changes in population abundance."

All species of sea turtles are listed as threatened or endangered. The leatherback, Kemp's Ridley, and hawksbill turtles are critically endangered. The Olive Ridley and green turtles are endangered, and the loggerhead is threatened.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration asked the research council to examine methods that could improve population assessments carried out by National Marine Fisheries Service, which is overseen by NOAA and responsible for the management of sea turtles in the water, and the Fish and Wildlife Service, which is responsible for sea turtles on land.

In its report, the committee emphasized that long lifespans and wide-ranging migrations over different habitats make sea turtles difficult to monitor.

Current sea turtle assessments in the United States are based heavily on estimates of adult females at nesting beaches, which are inadequate measures to make population assessments because adult females usually skip one or more breeding seasons, and nest counts provide no information on the number of immature turtles, adult males, and nonbreeding females.

Although information on the number of sea turtles at various life stages is essential, this alone is not sufficient to understand the causes of sea turtle population trends, develop management plans to protect sea turtle populations, or predict future trends, the report says.

The committee found that the most serious data gaps exist in estimates of the number of immature sea turtles, survival rates of immature turtles and nesting females, age at sexual maturity, the proportion of adult females that breed each year, and the number of nests each female creates in a breeding season.

In addition, adequate information is not available for population assessments because data either have not been collected or have not been analyzed and made accessible.

The report suggests that the NMFS and the FWS develop plans for the collection and analysis of data to address gaps, create a database that identifies datasets in the United States and territories, and review data being collected now under their agencies and evaluate the costs and benefits.

The agencies should support a program to safeguard and make accessible as many sea turtle databases as possible, they committee recommends. They should ensure that all research plans generated from within federal agencies are reviewed by panels of federal and nonfederal scientists, and convene a working group to evaluate the permitting process for research projects and find ways to expedite the process while safeguarding the species.

The report was sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are independent, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under an 1863 congressional charter.

Committee members, who serve pro bono as volunteers, are chosen by the academies for each study based on their expertise and experience and must satisfy the academies' conflict-of-interest standards. The resulting consensus reports undergo external peer review before completion.

Sea turtle egg evacuations begin along oiled Gulf

2010-07-13T11:40:00.003+08:00

PORT ST. JOE, Fla. — Biologist Lorna Patrick dug gingerly into the beach Friday, gently brushing away sand to reveal dozens of leathery, golfball-sized loggerhead sea turtle eggs.

Patrick, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, carefully plucked the eggs from the foot-deep hole and placed them one-by-one in a cooler layered with moist sand from the nest, the first step in a sweeping and unusual turtle egg evacuation to save thousands of threatened hatchlings from certain death in the oiled Gulf of Mexico.

After about 90 minutes of parting the sand with her fingers like an archaeological dig, 107 eggs were placed in two coolers and loaded onto a FedEx temperature-controlled truck. They are being transported to a warehouse at Florida's Kennedy Space Center where they will incubate and, hopefully, hatch before being released into the Atlantic Ocean.

The effort began in earnest along Florida's Panhandle, with two loggerhead nests excavated. Up to 800 more nests across Alabama and Florida beaches will be dug up in the coming months in an attempt to move some 70,000 eggs to safety.

Scientists fear that if left alone, the hatchlings would emerge and swim into the oil, where most would likely die, killing off a generation of an already imperiled species.

"This is a giant experiment," said Jeff Trandahl, director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which helped organize the plan.

Trandahl acknowledged many of the hatchlings may die from the stress of being moved, but he said there was no other option.

Each nest is monitored from the moment it is made and left in place for about 50 days. Then the eggs will be taken to the NASA temperature-controlled warehouse, kept at roughly 85 degrees, where they should begin hatching within about 10 days or so of arrival. The hope is that the ones that survive will return to nest where they were born after about 30 years, but no one knows if the experiment will be successful.

FedEx has offered to transport the eggs free of charge.

Virginia Albanese, CEO of FedEx Custom Critical, said the company will continue the effort for about four months, averaging three 500-mile trips a week from the Panhandle to Cape Canaveral. By mid-July, the company expects to be making six trips a week in its 53-foot customized 18-wheeler.

The special coolers, manpower and other expenses associated with the plan could cost the federal government, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and private partners hundreds of thousands of dollars, which BP will be asked to pay for, said Thomas Strickland, assistant secretary of the U.S. Interior Department's division of Fish and Wildlife and Parks.

"It's a major rescue effort and it's unprecedented," Strickland said. "There's anxiety and there should be because it's a delicate operation."

After the 1979 Ixtoc spill in the Gulf, there was an effort to save the Kemp's ridley sea turtles. Hatchlings were just emerging, and helicopters ferried the baby turtles to open ocean beyond the slick.

Loggerhead turtles typically lay about 125 eggs per nest. The government has no way of knowing exactly how many of the species live in the Gulf, but use nest numbers to determine population health.

Fish and Wildlife has proposed increasing loggerhead protections under federal law from a threatened species to an endangered species, largely because nest numbers have been steadily declining over the years.

Even without an oil spill, the vast majority of hatchlings don't make it to maturity, in part because they're eaten by predators. Experts estimate about one out of 1,000 survive to reproduce.

Sea turtles have also suffered because of commercial fishing and habitat loss. Some obviously oiled turtles have washed ashore since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, while other dead turtles have showed no outward signs of crude.

Recent tests by the federal government indicate some likely drowned in fishing nets, possibly during emergency shrimping seasons opened before the oil reached Louisiana and Mississippi shorelines.

David Godfrey, executive director of the Florida-based Sea Turtle Conservancy, said he was hoping for a 50 percent hatch rate for the evacuated eggs.

"Any turtles that survive is a great success because we know they're doomed over here," he said.

Calvin Luo

Day 15 - All good things come to an end

2010-07-10T22:36:00.001+08:00

I was told to finish up the post for the last day of the project and I found myself hard-pressed to find the suitable photos to put up on the blog. Sure, there are a myriad of shots of the beautiful place and the wonderful people. But none of them are quite able to convey my feelings about the subject.

The team left Mangkok in the late morning to head to the airport. Some of the kids,villagers and PEWANIS women came down to the Pink House to send us off and that was really such a touching gesture. Goodbyes are always hard to say but must always be said nonetheless. To that end, we all reluctantly said our final farewells and went about our way.

Nothing much actually happened after that to be honest. We got to the airport, took the flight back and went our separate ways. But somehow, I know that each and every one of us were slowly thinking back on the past 14 days and reflecting on what it all meant to each individual.

I'm a city-kid through and through. As are my fellow team members. In my whole life, I never thought that I would be so affected by something so seemingly unimportant. It never occurred to me that I'll spend half a month in a Malaysian kampung and more importantly, I never knew I could fall in love with a place with such a simple way of life. The sincerity of the villagers and kids; the rustic charm of the place; the determination of the turtles; the single-mindedness of the WWF staff and volunteers to champion their cause and the genuine smiles of everyone has left a lasting impression on me. Seriously, I just never thought I would learn so much from something so small.

Going back to Singapore was certainly one of the harder things I've had to do recently. But life goes on. I can only hope that one day, life will take me back there once again. In some ways, it'll be a lot like going home again.

Chow Wee

Hatchling Emerging

2010-07-10T20:46:00.005+08:00

Woot! finally back to singapore. Kind of miss the village now, but anyway as promised this is the video of hatchling emerging (was only the lucky one to see the whole process)

Yong Liang

Signing Off

Day 14 - A Murder ererere~~~

2010-07-09T21:01:00.010+08:00

Welcome to Terengganu express where we bring you the latest news.

At 6pm this evening, there was a case of murder at the hatchery. The prime suspect is currently at large blogging in Setiu.

According to the eye-witness, the murderer was digging at the potential hatchling site to see if there were any sighting of late bloomers. Just when he was about to excavate the eggs, a "bursting" feeling was felt by the murderer and soon enough, he fled from the site.

The relevant authorities are still looking for the suspect. It is believed that the suspect is about 23 years old, Chinese, about 182 cm tall, has short hair and wear spectacles, if anyone hasinformation on the suspect, please dial: 1800-save-penyu.

After the 2 days of break that team Orion had taken, we were all set and ready to go. First on the list, Chow Wee, Calvin and Yong Liang went back to the first painted house to do some touch up work on the painting. The auntie was glad that we make another trip just for her.

While the 3 of us were busy with the paint work, the rest of the team was helping the Pewanis to make Kerepek Pisang. While waiting for the last facilitation session to commence, Sijie and I dropped by the Ikan Bilis warehouse as they were sorting out the different sizes and species of fish caught by the net. It was an eye-opener for me as I got to see the weird fishes caught and also the process of sorting and drying the ikan bilis.

Hi guys, this is Mary, River's pet. As River was away for a conference, he conveniently asked Kak Nurol to release it for him. Well if not for River's Pet, I would not know that Chow Wee is scared of snakes.

A classic moment that Chow Wee met Mary

Meaningful signages that made us ponder.

Although there was no night lesson at the pink house, the kids still came over to spend the last night with us. Thanks everyone, we will miss you when we are back in Singapore.

Just tonight itself, we managed to release 225 hatchlings and excavated 3 more nests. Such numbers greatly boost up the turtle counter.

Oh well back to Singapore tomorrow!! See you guys soon!!

The Malay phrase for the day is

Jatuh Cinta- Fall in Love

Yong Liang

Signing off

Day 12 - 13: Redang Island

2010-07-08T23:35:00.000+08:00

Now, who doesn't like some rest and recreation? A time to just sit down and relax; let your hair down and go crazy (don't worry, not TOO crazy) or simply a period for quiet reflection. I think the team managed to do all of that at Redang Island.

For the short trip, we were joined by Brandon from the WWF and as usual, the more the merrier. The team made our way to Merang Jetty on the morning of the 7th of July with mixed feelings. On one hand, we were all looking forward to Redang but on the other, we were pretty sad to be leaving Mangkok; albeit only temporarily. Regardless, thanks to Kak Tar and Abang Lan, we all reached Merang and prepared to board the ferry to Redang.

It was roughly a 35-40 minute ride to the island and we passed that time by sleeping, chatting or just admiring the scenery. The East Coast of Malaysia is, quite simply put, stunningly beautiful.

For the two days on Redang, the team managed to have quite a bit of fun. We took long walks on the beach and made comparisons of how such walks were akin to night patrols at Telaga Papan.

We tried our hand at archery and discovered that the sport is apparently not our dearest team advisor's forte (Don't let that striking pose in the photo fool you. He really is quite useless at it).

We went snorkeling and all looked retarded with our face masks on. But, we also had plenty of fun in the water and saw loads of beautiful sights in the clear emerald water.

We all took time off to think about the past few days and how they have affected us.

And some of us slept. A lot.

If anything, Redang provided a good contrast between a simple life in Mangkok and the life we're all so familiar with: that of crowds, high prices and a rush in everyone's footsteps. The contrast allowed us all to better appreciate the fact that 'back to basics' deserves way more credit than it is given.

To leave behind the hustle and bustle of the city where everyone are strangers to head into the tranquility and peace of the kampung where everyone is just part of a huge family was an experience that none of us would forget.

So there you have it. The very condensed version of the two days on Redang. We ate, we slept, we thought, we had fun. At the end of which, we were all just very much looking forward to getting back to the Pink House and Kampung Mangkok. Or as someone very aptly put it: 'Let's go home now'.

Chow Wee

Day 11-Our last "mission"and a farewell to all

2010-07-07T01:16:00.005+08:00

The day started off with doing the last patching up of our Pink House at spots such as the small parts of grooves which are hard to reach and also the top panel which was decided last minute to be painted because it is included in the front view of the Pink House and that the previous paint had faded off thus making it look unfinished. This took us till about 12pm and we cleaned up before cycling to Kak Tar's place for lunch.

After lunch, as we cycled back to the Pink House, 4 of us (Jia Wei, Ming Xian, Ding Kun and Jason) decided to make a trip to Penarik Inn because Ming Xian wanted to get an Eco Bag. While we were taking a break under the fan at Penarik Inn and playing darts, the rest were also taking a break back at the Pink House while waiting for us to come back.

It was decided previously that we wanted to take a video of the VISA commercial at the houses which we had painted. Some of them decided to play the peanut game and in the end Ming Xian still lost the game and her forfeit was to dance alone in the video. After the video we came back to the Pink House for banner painting which is made up of the hand prints of the village's kids. We also demonstrated the Compost Heap to the Pewanis members.

After completing the banner, we went to one of the student's house which has a bird house which is used to collect bird's nest. Then afterwards we went back to the Pink House to grab our stuffs before cycling back to Kak Tar's place for dinner. Then afterwards we went back to the Pink House for the BBQ session.

The BBQ session was awesome with good food and good drinks and good entertainment which includes a kick-boxing demonstration by 2 of the kids. Then after the demonstration was the closing ceremony which includes the presentation of the prizes for the kite making competition and also the presentation of a model of the Pink House made by Sijie to the Pewanis members. We also received our souvenirs which was made by them. We also presented the completed VISA video to the Pewanis members and also photo-taking sessions with the Pewanis members and the WWF staff. We then ended our day with a last supper with our dear WWF staff which has provided us with lots of help which we needed throughout the project.

And now, time for me to sleep.

The team will be heading down to Redang in 5 hours time!

Signing off,

Jason (:

Last Night Patrol

2010-07-06T10:08:00.005+08:00

The previous team came back from the Kuala Baru night patrol with an amazing record sighting of 2 terrapins and 5 clutches! Feeling rather indignant (because the team said the curse of the Singaporean Girls still stands because the team had such awesome results), I insisted on going for another night of patrol but it will be back at Telega Papan instead.

Some of my lovely team mates (Chow Wee, Yong Liang, Calvin) decided to accompany me, despite feeling extremely exhausted themselves, because they wanted to (quoting them)"rub some of their good turtle luck on me". Chow Wee called Kak Nurol to make arrangements for the night and i spent the rest of the day eagerly waiting for the night to come.

Before we left the Pink House, our dearest team leader, Jiawei, kept telling me to have faith in myself and that it was my last chance to prove the theory wrong. Bringing along the team's well-wishes, we set off for Telega Papan.

According to Kak Shila, Pak Ali said that there was a very high chance of turtle sightings! I was so full of hope and anticipation but time went by swiftly and still there were no turtles/nests in sight. We eventually went back at 0400h without any sightings. Guess the curse still stands. :(

For the past few days I fought fiercely (HAHAHA) to defend myself against what they said about me and my luck with turtles but after last night, i've decided to resign to fate afterall. :(

So this is what happened during our last night patrol. This concludes our night patrolling and I really have to say that it had been a really great eye-opener for all of us (even me, despite not seeing much). We'll miss admiring the beautiful nightsky, watching the ghost crabs scramble around or just feeling the cold seabreeze caress our faces... We'll miss how we cursed the tedious walk on the soft sand of the beaches, the anger we felt when we realised that the poachers have gotten ahead of us or the disappointment we felt when the trip was unfruitful.. And of course, nothing can describe the excitement and joy we felt when we spot the turtles or collect the eggs. :) All the sleepless nights have been worth it and if we could, we would do it all over again. :)

P.S: I heard from Kak Shila that there has been sightings of turtles in Redang too! For all you know, maybe i'll have some turtle luck there! :D HAHAHA.

Mingxian!

A picture speaks a thousand words

2010-07-06T09:59:00.003+08:00

I'm sure these 2 photos have enlightened you as to what happened on our very last night of night patrol.

Clue: Mingxian came along!

Day 10 - Layang-Layang

2010-07-05T22:59:00.004+08:00

The team was promptly greeted by the morning sun when we opened the front door of the Pink House. It felt great to know that we have already completed painting all the houses and that we were having an off day! (: After a sumptuous breakfast, we began the making of kites by shaving long and uneven bamboo sticks into slimmer and rounder ones. The process of shaving was actually more tedious than expected, because of the precise dimensions we have to achieve in order to bend the bamboo strips into the shapes that we wanted. As such, we spent the entire morning doing so, and only managed to fix and tie the sticks into the shape of a traditional malay kite (with exception of Ming Xian, who persisted in making a butterfly-shaped kite, that resembles an aeroplane more than anything else) by late afternoon. And oh, just to reiterate my previous point, kite making is really harder than imagined.

Once the frames of the kites were up, the team eagerly covered them with coloured papers and glue. On top of that, we also put on our thinking caps and came up with creative designs for our personalised kites. For instance, Sijie decorated his kite with the logo of the PEWANIS, and the latter was extremely pleased by his final product. At the end of the day, everyone of us was beaming with smiles when we finally finished the kites. I believe we had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves under the tutelage and guidance of Abang Lan (our kite making Cikgu), who sacrificed his day by coaching us and doing countless QCs (Quality Checks) on our kite skeletons.

Ming Xian and I with our completed art works that we are so proud of till now! Anyway, River claimed that the sea turtle ('Penyu' in Bahasa Melayu) on my kite looks like a dragon fruit when viewed from the other side. ):

Although it was just a simple kite making process, the amount of time we spent and the effort we placed in have far surpassed the simplicity of the task. I see it as a test of patience, as the fruit of labour can only be seen after the kite is being completed, which may take a couple of hours to do it. I guess some of us got a little annoyed with the tying of the skeletons, but nonetheless, everyone has done a great job in finishing their kites on time. A kite is something that you can buy easily from a convenience store (e.g. 7-11), and you can fly it any time you want, but nothing beats making your own kite from scratch, and lifting it up into the sky, knowing the time and efforts you have invested in doing so. Every kite made today is unique, and I guess this is what that really matters the most, and is the most precious takeaway from today's lesson.

The Malay word of the day is:

Layang-layang - Kite

That's all for today. (: Good night! (I am actually on the verge of dosing off while typing this entry)

Jia Wei

Kuala Baru Night Patrol Day 2 - WooT!! Theory proven RIGHT!!

2010-07-05T11:19:00.005+08:00

Woo.. second night patroling at Kuala Baru. The first night the Ming Xian, Chow Wee, Jason and Jia Wei team manage to recover 2 clutches of eggs and no terrapin seen. This make quite worried as Ming Xian went before my team. Remember the previous post that when she went to the night patrol, the green turtle were not seen laying eggs on the beach for 3 days. Thus we tested out this theory again:

if (Ming Xian go patrol) = no turtles seen

if (Guys go patrol) = Turtles seen

Theory proven, the team of guys went and we see 3 Terrapin and recover 5 clutches of eggs.

we were split into teams of 2 for the patrol Calvin and I were accompany by Abang B we alight at the mid-point of the stretch of Kuala Baru beach. How the first team identify the mid-point where we park the boat is by the marker indicated below.

""Here you go guys!! A snap shot for the poor girl.""

The prints left behind by the Terrapin does look cute. the Prints were not very visible from far, if Abang B did not spot it I might miss the chance of getting a glimpse on the Terrapin.

A shot of a precise Terrapin egg find by Abang B and Ashraf.

That's all folks stay tune for more updates.

Yong Liang

signing off

Day 9 - Rally Car Driving

2010-07-05T02:03:00.003+08:00

Day 9 of Project Orion marks yet another milestone on what is truly turning out to be an experience of epic proportions. Today, the team finished with the two remaining houses that we have been asked to paint: the PEWANIS Pink House and the hatchery hut.

The two structures meant something special to the team as well since the Pink House is where we have fondly called home for the past few days and the hatchery hut has been the scene of much joy and emotion (it's where we collect the newborns from and where we send the recovered eggs to). As such, we all made as much effort as possible to ensure that both structures were properly repainted.

I must say though, all the hard work is worth it as long as it made the locals happy. On that, the team agrees whole-heartedly. On that note, we can only hope that the nice womenfolk of PEWANIS and Abang Azam are pleased with what we've done. As the saying goes, always save the best for last and we sincerely hope that our best work was indeed done on these last two houses.

Apart from painting the last two houses, half of the team (Calvin, Si Jie, Yong Liang, Ka Jun and myself) also visited the Kuala Baru (KBS) hatchery. The ride into the facility was certainly a one-of-a-kind experience. Thanks to the skillful driving of Kak Nurol, we all made it through the rough terrain with nary a scratch. Undoubtedly, she's a very, very good driver indeed and we all feel safe in her hands.

The Kuala Baru hatchery is where the Painted Terrapin eggs are nested. It's isolated and situated near the estuary of Setiu River. Due to the location, those beaches are normally visited by female Painted Terrapins to lay their eggs. Not only is the location scenic, it's also hard to reach and relatively safe from outside disturbance. Sadly, it's not THAT hard to reach so the hatchery is still vulnerable to potential poachers seeking terrapin eggs. While that issue can be solved by having a ranger permanently stationed there, that solution is hampered by various constraints such as manpower and budget. Hopefully, turtle/terrapin conservation work gains enough of the spotlight in the future to warrant more salience from the general public and from the relevant authorities.

As usual, at night we had our usual night lessons. This time round, we taught the kids how to make hearts using drinking straws. Through that hands-on lesson, we also managed to teach them words such as 'scissors' or 'fold'. While such things may seem trivial to many people we know, it literally is a case of every english word counts over here.

Apart from all that, there were the standard nest excavations and egg pick-ups that we had to go for. Honestly, I never get bored of doing it and I hope I never will. In fact, I've managed to learn something from every single excavation I've attended and hopefully, I'll have the chance to keep on learning.

Now that we've finished painting the last few houses, the team feels somewhat emotional about it all. While we're all glad that all the back-breaking work is done, we realized that we genuinely enjoyed painting the houses. Not only did we have fun doing it, the team also managed to bond through the sweat and occasional tears. More importantly, the team managed to really interact with the villagers through all the labour. While some may not have found the experience to be fun or enriching, I can assure you with much certainty that the overwhelming sentiment amongst the team is that we loved the painting. So much so that I'm sure we'll all miss painting houses tomorrow.

Luckily, we have a kite-making session to keep us occupied! Now, that, is something we are all very looking forward to.

And the malay word for today is:

Merepek = talking nonsense

Till tomorrow!

Chow Wee

KBS Night Patrol - Mingxian finally gets to see some eggs!

2010-07-04T20:16:00.014+08:00

HELLOOOOOOO, this is Mingxian again! :D Judging from the happy photo above, I bet you all have already guessed that this is going to be a happy post! :D :D

Four of us (Chow Wee, Jia Wei, Jason and me!) headed down to Kuala Baru last night for our patrolling! We reached Kar Tar's place at 2130h and waited for Abang B to bring us over to the jetty for our boat ride.

We've heard stories of the scary boat ride from Si Jie because the boat nearly capsized that night. I felt really apprehensive about the ride because I CAN'T SWIM FOR NUTS. Abang B brought his young son Ashraff (11 years old!) along and we were all super impressed with him. The little boy was extremely independent and really adorable. There were barely any lights around but he led us down the dark path confidently. At that moment, i was so ashamed of myself for being so afraid of the dark.

Well, looking really retarded with a FDA, I got on a rather big boat with comfy sofa seats and i said to the rest of the team members:

"Eh not bad leh! Not very small what!"

But one of them nudged me and pointed towards a small little boat beside me. Looking really retarded with a FDA, i boarded the boat very clumsily, found a seat and held on to the side of the boat for dear life.

Fortunately, the ride was a rather smooth one and i actually really enjoyed it! The nightsky was dotted with stars and the night breeze was really refreshing. :D We arrived at the first checkpoint where the first pair (Chow Wee and I) alighted with two of the rangers and started our patrol.

We walked along the shore for probably 30 minutes before the rangers turned towards the trees. We headed over to where the second team left the boat and took the boat to our next check point.

We met up with the second team (Abang B, Ashraff, Jia Wei and Jason) there and was delighted to find out that they found a clutch of 12 Terrapin eggs! Excitedly, we dug a hole in the hatchery and we all got our turns to place the eggs gingerly into the nest. :D

Abang B! :D

The Oblong-shaped eggs :D

Abang B then got a call from one of the rangers that he found another nest near the hatchery! We headed down and Abang B allowed us to have the chance to transfer the eggs (14 of them this time!) from the nest into the pail. We had to be really careful with how we handle the eggs because mishandling of eggs may result in deformities in the baby terrapins.

We rested for a while at the river mouth before heading back to the hatchery again. The four of us sat down to talk outside the hatchery and Abang B brought some food out for us. It started raining then and we headed inside the house to sleep.

We didn't really have a good sleep thoough and we woke up at 0730h to head back to Kar Tar's house. I was really happy and cheery the entire day because I was so afraid that this trip would be unfruitful too! The others kept joking about how I scare the turtles/terrapins away and that I'll definitely not see any during my night patrols. Tsk. :( BUT WELL, I STILL DID! TWO CLUTCHES OF EGGS WOOOOOOOOOT.

We absolutely enjoyed the boat ride back because it was really refreshing and relaxing. :) We took a photograph with Abang B and his adorable son! :D

:D :D

2 clutches of eggs are probably nothing compared to what the other teams have seen during their Telega Papan patrol but I'm already very grateful for it. :D I did behave slightly crazy about it after that... but you can't really blame me for it since the entire team was talking about how jinxed I am and that anyone who goes on patrols with me will never see turtles/terrapins/eggs BUT I DID. WOOT, I BROKE THE CURSE HAHAHAHA.

P.S: If Yong Liang has a fruitful trip tonight, then maybe the 'suay' one is Sijie! HAHAHAHAHAHA

Day 8 - Orion goes SHOPping~~

2010-07-03T21:37:00.015+08:00

Hey there people, It’s DAY 8!!! :D. Time flies eh?? Before I start about our wondrous 8^th day, Lets introduce our new room-mate “Horn-y”

A pointy little fella isn’t he?? To bad he’s only going to be staying overnight. In an extremely nice and refurbished 100plus bottle and going home to the wild the next day because he was scared by one of the girl in the group (whose name can’t be mentioned..SHHHHH) who screamed and after that he seemed to be dead. Apparently he survived :D. All the best Horn-y.

Now moving on to day 8. In the morning, we actually woke up later than usual. The reason?? WE WERE GOING TO THE MARKET!!! WHOOO. Breakfast was Mee with a fried egg by the way. So we left for the market at about 0930hrs. The market was huge!!! It was simple yet full of surprises. There were items that range from local food items to clothing and even ice KWEEEM :D. Very very nice ice cream for RM1. And yet again apparently one of the girl in the group was so fascinated that she opened her eyes bigger to get a better view. Until now, no one knows if she was fascinated by the market or by the 8 handsome guys that were around.

After walking for a short while (Accompanied by lots of food and drinks), the team came across an old man selling turtle eggs. The eggs were sold at 3 for RM10. When asked where he obtained the eggs, he said that he obtained the eggs from Langkawi and not locally. I guess some of us at that point of time would feel suspicious if whether or not it was the truth.

After walking around the market, we went to a flower shop to buy some flowers. After much discussion and haggling, we bought back a pitcher plant, about 40 cactus and some fertilizer for about $110 to decorate the pink house.

Well after all that shopping and other stuff (We bought new tables for the kids:D). A few of us decided to head back to the pink house first because some of us being businessmen had to rush back to the pink house to settle our big businesses. After which it was dinner time. And someone sway sway kena taopok by the rest of the team. Because that stupid idiot went to pull another guy on top of himself. Who is the smart boy? I shall not say :X .

After dinner is then the night class. While half of the team had to go see the terrapins the rest stayed back to help in the lessons (Well there was a language barrier but we tried at least). After that the kids went on to assist us in preparing the gifts for the sponsors for the project as can be seen in the picture below they all can draw very nicely (Even nicer than me).

And so the day ends….. BUT WAIT LIVE UPDATE AS OF 11AM:

GULIN is now asleep and SNORING away!!! We now bring you live footage

Even the toy was not able to avoid the snore.

Stay tuned for the next update where the patrolling team returns.

Signing off

ka jun

Day 7:’Rawr,Rawr,Rawr’,It’s a MBB day!

2010-07-03T15:33:00.005+08:00

Hi everyone, it’s my turn to update the blog! You may be wondering what MBB stands for, it actually means “mud, banana and boat”. Unlike previous days’ schedules where we were supposed to paint the houses and go for night patrolling, today’s programme was to interact and work with the kids and the Pewanis through mangrove replanting and the making of banana chips. When we reached the mangrove replanting area, our group of 9 people were divided into 3 groups, which are helping out with the transport seedlings, beach cleaning and planting the seedlings at the mangrove area. Everyone did an excellent job in planting the seedlings even though the mud was really “sticky” and the digging of the mud was quite difficult. Therefore, thanks to everyone’s effort and contribution, all of us managed to complete the mangrove replanting within the whole morning and we took a group photo with the kids and the Pewanis group for us to remember.

After which, we had our banana chip-making session at the Pink House. There were people coming to Pink House to view the process of banana chip making: the villagers from other houses, the kids and also the reporters from Kuala Terengganu, which came for the purpose of knowing more and looking at what our project is about. We were trying to learn and practice the steps of how to make banana chips from the Pewanis, which is a local community organization consists of women. The process was quite tedious: from peeling the banana skins, slicing the banana flesh, frying the banana and then followed by packing of fried banana chips. However, we managed to pick up the skills in a short period of time and the members of Pewanis were quite surprised and said that we did a great job in assisting them for the banana chips making.

Next, all of us went for dinner at Kar Tar’s house after having a quick nap and we had our next activity which was the firefly boat ride.The objective of the boat ride was to view the fireflies around the Kampung Mangkok River. While the boat was steering towards the firefly area,all of us felt uncomfortable and irritated by the petrol smell and engine noise but it’s all worth it because we managed to see LOTS of fireflies flying around the area and some of us caught some fireflies to view it up close and it feels great to have the firefly crawling around yr palm. Also, Ming Xian conducted her mini “sing-along’ session with the kids in the boat and the kids were enjoying themselves with the “shark” song etc. The boat ride ended quite fast and we received a call from River that he wanted to treat us for supper, so everyone went for supper and ordered some food while watching world cup and had a chit-chat session with each other.

So overall for today, it was fun and enriching, unlike painting houses and we shall look forward to the next day where there will be more exciting things for us to do. Catch us in the next “blogging” episode!

Signing off,

Ding Kun

--- EDITED ---

"Why why why why why, Mingxian go patrol"

2010-07-03T00:51:00.009+08:00

Good eveninggggggggggggg!

Today you're greeted with a photograph of me looking ultra sad (courtesy of Calvin) because we did not manage to spot any turtles during our patrolling last night. :(

The team of 3 (SiJie, Yong Liang, Ming Xian) set off from the Pink House in high spirits when Kak Nurol and Kak Fathen came to pick us up at 2130h. Upon arriving at TP1, we met up with Pak Ali and began our patrol along the beach. We were extremely excited at the thought of seeing turtles (I happily said "I'll see FIVE tonight!" to the team before i left) and we took the gorgeous nightsky as a good sign. However, an hour after our patrol started, ominous-looking clouds soon started to gather, strong gusts of wind tousled our hair and the ranger suggested that we quickly proceed on to TP2 where the shelter was.

We sat down on the sand and Pak Ali once again miraculously produced a packet of Keropok Lekor, 5 packets of hot Milo and 2 watermelons. We ate as we watched the stars play Peek-a-Boo with us when the clouds come and go. A crimson moon rose for a moment before hiding behind the clouds and we feared that the bad weather would not allow any turtle sightings.

Yong Liang and Si Jie joked that it was the "Curse of the Singaporean Girls" because patrol teams consisting of girls in the previous Project Orion did not manage to spot any turtles too. Hours went by, our hopes went down gradually and we started fearing for the worst. Eventually, we returned without any turtle sightings, exhausted and with extremely heavy hearts of disappointment.

However, we may be disappointed but certainly not demoralised. We will be starting our next round of patrolling...but this time round it will be at Kuala Baru! According to Kak Nurol, it is currently the peak season for terrapins and there is a high chance that we'll get to spot some terrapins! Let's keep our fingers crossed then. :)

P.S: I'll prove the "Curse of Singaporean Girls" wrong! I'm sure i'll get to see some terrapins in Kuala Baru. :D

Ming Xian

The Second Night Patrol

2010-07-01T23:31:00.003+08:00

On the night of the 30th of June, another batch of 3 team members went for the second night patrol at Telaga Papan. To put it simply, Calvin, Ka Jun and myself walked the length of Telaga Papan 1. But as always, the devil is in the details.

I am very happy to say that our patrol managed to spot a grand total of 3 sea turtles! In addition, from those 3 turtles, we managed to recover 2 clutches of eggs. The first clutch had 54 eggs and the second one held 84 eggs but alas, 3 of them were cracked. In the case of the second turtle, the clutch of eggs it laid was actually stolen by thieves. What makes it heartbreaking, is that the theft happened while we were waiting for the first turtle to finish laying her eggs. The realization that we missed the second clutch of eggs by minutes was agonizing to say the least.

Kak Shila (one of the WWF staff members) told us that such thefts happen too often for comfort and once again, it provided us with a glimpse of the uphill struggle that is turtle conservation.

While seeing the green turtles and recovering the eggs were a definite highlight of the patrol, we were also provided with a fine display of nature that night. At some point around 1am, the overcast sky became increasingly ominous, the wind picked up dramatically and it got cold very fast. Predictably, the rain fell soon enough and the patrol retreated to what was probably the best shelter on the beach: a rickety pondok used to house a sampan that barely covered us.

However, Pak Ali (one of the rangers), through, what I believe to be magic, managed to produce hot bags of milo and keropok for everyone. He also went off for 5 minutes and came back with a watermelon. How he did it, I have no idea but believe me when I say we were all thankful he could.

So in a nutshell, we saw turtles, we recovered eggs, we ate like kings, it rained on us, we got owned by nature and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

Anyway, it's the start of a brand new day and it's mangrove replanting with the village children today! Everyone's getting ready and we can hardly wait. We'll get details up tonight!

Have a great day!

Chow Wee

Day 6- Moo Moo Jumps to Moon, Goat Goat jumps to well

2010-07-01T20:59:00.005+08:00

Day 6:

Hey there readers :D ,

We’re here back again for your daily dosage of updates to cure your curiosity. As usual, today was a very fruitful day for the team. The day began as any other ordinary day as the team awoke to find themselves yet having another wonderful breakfast prepared for us at the Kak Tar’s House. However, the journey there looked dangerous as it started to drizzle a little along the way.

After that delicious and wondrous breakfast, the drizzle still hadn’t stopped and so we could not get to work on that final house that we were supposed to paint (SIAN!). Thus, we decided to head over to the school to start work on the mural. As we started to prepare the paint, we found out that a lot of the paints didn’t look like the ones we’d expected to arrive. For example, apparently the yellow that was chosen looked more like milky white than yellow. So we attempted to try to mix and match the base colours to try to obtain the desired colours. After awhile of painting the mural, half the team had to proceed on to paint the last house leaving behind Jason, Ming Xian, Ka Jun and Jia Wei to finish up the rest of the mural which went on quite well in the end. Especially when we had several supporters (Just the kids there actually) to give us motivation to do our best :D. Eventually we were able to finish up the mural by about 1pm plus and proceeded on for the lunch.

*Passes Laptop to Gulin*

When the first group started to work on the mural, the rest of us made our way to the fifth house to paint it lime green with brown. This is by far our (mine too!) fastest painting! Oh, I forgot to mention the house only have three walls that require painting. Just as we about to eat our lunch, we heard a loud crash right behind us! Turning around, we started to hear cries of a baby lamb coming out from a well. Filled with curiosity, I rushed over with my camera and started snapping pictures of the lamb trapped inside! Abang Lan rushed in to carry the noisy lamb out. After lunch, we rushed back to our simple job and proceeded painting it. With the assistance of the first group, we completed it together at 1600hrs.

Before:

After:

The GOAT who jumped over the well:

We made our way back to the pink house. Some of us took the incredible power nap for tonight’s patrol along the beach while the rest lazed around. At 1730hrs, Ka Jun, Jason, DK and Chow Wee prepared for their excavation of the turtle eggs! It has been six days and Gulin has yet to excavate any of his own turtles!

*Passes Laptop back to Ka Jun*

During the turtle nest excavation, Jason and DK managed to find some hatchlings which haven climbed out of their nests yet (Those slow cute buggers: D). One of the hatchlings that DK managed to rescue has a slight deformation in its left flipper and hence it tended to move in a very weird manner *they are still cute never the less*. The hatchling that Jason found was still stuck in it’s shell and after a long period of time the interns decided to help the hatchling break free to freedom as they were scared it might get too tired.

Picture of the hatching that could not get out:

Finally we would like to end off with the usual Malay word of the day which is:

Sarapan - Breakfast

Signing off,

Calvin and Ka Jun

Ps: Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of the night patrol which includes:

· 3 New handsome heros
· Many hours of exploration
· A GIANTIC STORM Which did not Storm at the heros =.=
· And the delicious snacks that they ate

Day 5 - Too Fast Too Furious Day

2010-06-30T23:59:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone,

Welcome to another daily update of Project Orion II. The day was packed with so much surprises that we did not have a chance to grasp a breather. First on the line, we went to Madam Halimah's house to do the painting. To my surprise, we did the pain-in-the-neck undercoating within 2 hours and also used the same amount of time to paint the whole house. After painting purple houses for 3 days, the light blue colour does look refreshing.

We completed painting the house in an amazing time of 4 hours, I personally believe it's the experience we have gained along the way that allowed us to complete it. After painting, it is another episode of YongLiang's "catch of the day". Well, as promised I try to catch at least an animal daily, yup I have met "AH BU" the monkey which is being tied to the tree. (poor thing right.)

Moving on, we were supposed to paint the mural in school but due to some hiccups the delivery of the paint was delayed. Thus we spent the free time making a documentary which we will try to post up when the bandwidth allows us to do so.

Coming up on the list, we were scheduled to assist in the excavation. There were 3 clutches to be excavated - 50 none hatched , 85 with only 1 hatched and 92 with 84 hatched . 2 lucky hatchlings were found alive in each of the clutches of 85 and 92.

Hey Faizal!! these are the Eggs you want so badly . but guess what we ain't going to give it to you :P

Those hatchlings that did not survive, they were preserved for educational and research purposes.

After a long day, we decided to go to pernarik inn for star gazing. But guess what, we saw hatchlings emerging from the nest. It's definitely a rare sight and its what we all have been wanting to see. There were a total of 116 hatchling being released and for the team that went for patroling found 3 clutches of eggs but 1 of it was poached by thieves. However we manage to collect a total of 138 eggs.

The malay phrase we have learnt today is:

Ambil Gambar - Take Picture

(Its essential to learn this phrase so we can deliver all these beautiful picture to you guys out there)

Yong Liang

Signing Out

---EDITED---

Day 3 - Night patrol

2010-06-30T14:38:00.001+08:00

Monday, 28^th June 2010, was the first night which we were scheduled to do night patrolling along Telaga Papan, the beach where the World-Wide Fund for nature (WWF) monitors for turtles sightings. There are 2 sections to the beach, Telaga Papan 1(TP1) on the left, and Telaga Papan 2(TP2) on the right.

Setting off from the Pink House at 9pm, we (Jia Wei, Ding Kun and Jason) packed the necessary items which we think is important for the night at the beach. Along with us was one of the WWF interns, Aini. We were driven from the Pink House on a 10 minute ride on River’s land rover to the isolated roads of the beach without any lights along the road. As there were 2 Rangers doing the patrolling, we had to wait for both of them to arrive before setting off for the romantic stroll along the beach. After awhile of interaction with Aini both the Rangers had arrived at the beach and we were introduced to Pak Ali and Pak Leh. We were informed that there were 2 sightings of turtles which came up to lay eggs not long ago and so we set off to TP1, while the other ranger went to patrol along TP2. Supposedly, we thought that it would be a stroll along the beach, but in the end it became a brisk walk along the soft, sandy beach. As we were not used to walking along beaches with such soft sand, often our legs sank into the sand as we walked and had a hard time catching up with both Aini’s and the ranger’s paces.

After a long walk of about 3km, as told by Aini, we finally saw the two landing trails of the turtles, but sadly as both of them came up about the same time, we could only see 1 of the nests. As we reached the nesting site, the turtle had already finished laying its eggs and was sand-bathing itself before it sets off on its journey back into the sea. After about 10 to 15 minutes, the turtle began its journey back to the sea and the ranger dug into her nest for her eggs. With the experience of the ranger, an arm-deep pit was dug out in lesser than 5 minutes and the first eggs were brought out.

Turtle eggs are round and ‘fish ball’ like, and as you can see from the picture above that the eggs are made of a really thin membrane which thus allows any light to shine through.

As we counted the eggs each turtle had laid, we put the eggs nice and slowly into a pail, which after every layer had to be covered with sand in order to protect the eggs at the bottom.

After TP1, we were informed that the route was to walk from TP1 to TP2, to wait and rest, which is 6km, and then walk back to the start point. However, after resting for less than 15min at TP2, we were again informed that there was a sighting at TP1 and we had to walk back to TP1. Halfway through the route back to TP1, we coincidentally bumped into a turtle which had just come up from the sea and onto the shore to lay its eggs. Immediate action was to retreat and re-route our path to walk back to TP1 as we could not disturb and let the turtle sense our presence or else it will not lay its eggs and go back into the sea. We thus continued our walk back to TP1 on the road, which was so much easier to walk on. We had to wait for the turtle to finish digging its pit for laying eggs before we can go up and see her lay her eggs. As we had a long and tiring day, we lay down on the beach and almost instantly falling asleep with the romantic moonlight shining down and the cooling sea breeze blowing at us. Sadly we could not enjoy this but had to continue with the counting of the eggs and move on back to the last turtle which was near the start point. Finally after 5 hours of walking, we had completed our patrolling and hopped on to River’s land rover to transport the eggs back to the hatchery at Penarik Inn to be incubated and was then sent back to the Pink House. Sadly we did not take many photos because we did not bring the camera or the video camera.

Signing off,

Jason

Day 4 - Ding Kun Finds LOVE!!!

2010-06-30T00:33:00.005+08:00

Good evening to all. The wind outside the Pink House now feels a little chilly, probably because of a heavy downpour just a couple of hours ago. This has caused the beach patrolling team today to postpone their adventure till the next day. What a pity, but I guess everyone has had fun interacting and teaching the local children during the night lesson.

However, the post today will surround the theme of 'love', where a couple of our team members have forged new friendships, and possibly other forms of relationships. For instance, Ding Kun has developed a new and blooming 'bromance' with one of the local kids. The picture below depicts a sweet moment of them holding hands while cycling. But hey, please look out for traffic behind!

Day 4 was a day for many accomplishments. Firstly, the patrolling team for yesterday witnessed the rare sight of green turtle laying eggs, not one, but three in total. The team had also managed to complete the paintwork for our third and final purple house before lunch, the fastest thus far. I guess the art of painting is accumulative, where lessons learnt from the previous days were consolidated and improved on in subsequent paintwork, resulting in greater efficiency. After lunch, we had an interactive session that comprised of singing and playing of games with scouts from the local school.

Oh, look at how adorable the boys are! Happiness, tinged with a little of playfulness, was reflected on their faces. I believe the scouts in the school had thoroughly enjoyed themselves, dancing to the tunes of 'Gako the Frog' and sweating out while having a match of 'Dog-and-Bone'. The team is indeed grateful to the school and Cikgu Sahara (the teacher-in-charge) for their hospitality and amicability.

Just before dinner, the team made a trip to the turtle hatchery situated behind the 'Penarik Inn' for excavation, in search of turtle eggshells and eggs that are either not fertilised or dead before born. It was a first time experience for all of us, and everyone got to dig their hands real deep into the holes (approximately an arm's length, in terms depth) to look out for shells and eggs gingerly. We were overjoyed to see the eggshells as the latter represents the birth of baby turtles, but were a little disappointed, or maybe sad, to know that some of them did not have the chance to open their eyes and catch a glimpse of how the world is like. That's life, I guess.

After a long and hectic day of activities, everyone was thoroughly drained with fatigue. Our beloved one and only female team mate, Ming Xian, was so tired that she hugged the pillar, like how a koala clings on to a tree, while the rest were having dinner. Oh, look at her chubby cheeks and sleepy look. Ming Xian, please rest early tonight!

The malay word we have learnt today is:

Ular - Snake (River's new pet, Mary)

It's already 1:48am now and I guess I should be returning to my comfortable sleeping bag for a good night rest. Selamat malam. (:

Jia Wei

The things that go bump in the night

2010-06-29T07:18:00.003+08:00

So apparently, people have started talking in their sleep. And we thought it'll be funny to share it with everyone. Or maybe not. But we're too tired to be thinking straight.

Things said at night:

I want to play soccer.

I want to take pictures.

Ridiculous things seen/heard in the morning:

Ming Xian practising her swimming on the floor.

Ka Jun doing 5BX.

Yong Liang meditating.

Ka Jun seeing the word '5BX' as 'sex'.

Watch out for more such pointless but ever-entertaining snippets!

Chow Wee

Day 3 - I never thought I would be so happy to hear the words 'No Undercoat'

2010-06-28T21:38:00.006+08:00

A very good evening to all. It is now the end of day 3 of Project Orion II and we are happy to report that we are doing well. The first picture happens to be the very view that greets us every morning. With a view like that, it's pretty hard to start any day with a foul mood.

Today, the team went off to paint our second house. A couple of things we learned: Firstly, grooves in the planks aren't all that fun at all. Secondly, front porches are a pain in the neck and lastly, we work fast when we don't need to do the undercoating. Some of the team had to head off for other duties such as meeting with the school principal to iron out some details or heading into the city (45 minutes away) to make some necessary purchases so that effectively left about 6 of us to complete the paint job. Thankfully, we managed to get it all done. And as usual, the following are your customary before and after shots. Seriously, the difference is quite astounding; or so we think.

Just before dinner, the entire team was properly schooled in the sport of badminton by a 10 year-old. Not a single one of us managed to defeat him. Such interaction time with the village kids is always much appreciated. Not only are they innocent and adorable, they're also quite talented. Certainly not like the city kids we find these days; and I mean that in the best possible way.

At night, we had our first lesson with the village kids. Language differences may have caused some slight issues, but we were aided by the arrival of Brandon, a WWF youth officer, who kindly helped us out with key translations. Apart from teaching English to the children, we also helped them with their homework and enjoyed some games with them. I'm pretty sure we learnt as much from them as we hope they learned from us. There will be ongoing lessons for the next few nights and the team is really looking forward to them.

Additionally, tonight is also the night that we start our night patrols. The first three of us (Jia Wei, Ding Kun and Jason) are currently patrolling the beach at Telagan Papan. Luckily enough, they not only managed to collect what is reportedly one of the largest clutch of eggs ever (120 eggs), they also managed to actually see the Green Turtle laying eggs. Unfortunately enough, they had no video camera and no camera; so, we have no videos and no photos. Well done.

We also managed to release another batch of hatchlings tonight. All in all, that makes it 152 hatchlings we've helped to release. We hope earnestly that at least one of them will pay the beach a visit in 25 years to lay her own eggs.

The Malay word we've learnt for today is:

Lalat - Housefly (they're everywhere)

Last but not least, the catch of the day by Yong Liang is... not a chicken, but a duck. He promises to work on the chicken tomorrow. Simultaneously, the team has issued him with the ultimate challenge of catching a crocodile in Setiu River. Yea, good luck with that YL!

Evidently, that's all there is today. Keep viewing for more updates and do tell us what you want to read about. Also, please feel free to drop us a shout-out anytime. Thanks and good night!

Chow Wee

Day Two

2010-06-27T17:16:00.010+08:00

Greetings from Terangganu! Today marks the second day of Project Orion II. Despite the hard work and flabbergastingly hot weather, the team managed to both meet the schedule for the day and have plenty of fun along the way. Breakfast was accompanied by an excellent sideshow of Yong Liang trying so very hard to snag a lamb. Most impressively, after some initial difficulty, our resident Dr. Dolittle succeeded in what we were sure would be an impossible task.

After breakfast, we headed over to one of the villager's house to help repaint it. We were supposed to transform what was an ordinary-looking house into a brilliant purplish wonder; a high calling seeing as how many of us seldom engage in such tasks. Below, you will find a 'before' shot of the house.

The painting was divided into two stages. First, we had to apply the white undercoat. That took the entire morning. Next, we had to put on the finishing coat of purple and that, took from lunch till the early evening. What is troubling is that the house we painted today was supposedly one of the smaller abodes and tomorrow, we'll be looking at painting a bigger house. Stay tuned to see how the team fares on day three.

Nonetheless, the hard work was certainly worth it. Not only did the house look much nicer aesthetically, the owners of the place were genuinely pleased with what we had done. To see the smiles on their faces as they tried to convey their thanks to us made all the effort and trouble worth it. As you can see from the 'after' picture below, the house does look much nicer and certainly a whole lot more striking.

And of course, we made sure to take a pretty group picture before going our way. In many ways, this first house meant alot to the team. Not only was it the first official task we've completed, it also marked the start of what will certainly be a challenging journey.

After dinner, the team was in for a pleasant surprise when we learned from the WWF staff that there were hatchlings due to be released. A couple of members in the team went along for the release and experienced something truly remarkable. Watching the little hatchlings (which were very much adorable) make their way towards the boundless ocean, everyone was reminded of the words one of the researchers told us; that statistically, only one in every thousand hatchlings survive to reach maturity. It was a poignant moment as we observed them inching towards the waves, silently hoping that at least a few of them make it to one day return to that very beach to lay its eggs. More importantly, the release highlighted the importance of turtle conservation to us all. With odds like that, they could definitely use all the help they can get.

Well then, that was it in a nutshell. The team has decided to end everyday's post with a word or phrase in Bahasa Melayu; just a little something we picked up along the way and would hopefully, peek your interest. And so the word of the day (do pardon any spelling errors for the Melayu phrases) is:

Merah Jambu - Pink

In addition, we will proudly keep everyone updated with what other animals Yong Liang has promised to and will catch over the many days. Tomorrow, he's going for the chicken. I personally think it's simply not going to happen but hopefully, he'll surprise us all again with his swift movements and deft touch.

Here's hoping tomorrow will be even better than today. See you all!

Chow Wee

Day One!

2010-06-26T23:05:00.004+08:00

First things first, the team apologizes for what will be a lack of long, descriptive posts. Due to the fact that the stars must seemingly align before we get a proper internet signal, it seems loading many images is simply out of the question.

Well then, today was Day 1 of the project! The team met eagerly in the morning at the Budget Terminal for our flight to Kuala Terengganu. High spirits abound as we quickly cleared our check-in and took the first step towards the successful completion of the project.

The airline that took us there was Firefly Airlines. Apparently, none of us have ever taken a commercial propeller plane before so that certainly was a new experience. Despite all the wise cracks about premature deaths, the flight was smooth enough and did the fine job of getting us to our destination.

In Terangganu, we eventually made our way to Kampung Mangkok; the site of the project. After that, it was a whole slew of project administration work to deal with such as the collection of our bicycles (the only mode of transport for the next 14 days), the setting up of our residential quarters (affectionately known as the Pink House) and heading out for an orientation ride of the area.

During the orientation trip, we also stopped by to visit the local Turtle Conservation Centre. There, we were guided on a tour of the centre and all managed to learn quite abit about the river terrapins. For example, difficulties such as convincing the villagers to sell the terrapin eggs to the centre were essentially explained to us. More importantly, it truly enlightened us on how hard such conservation work really is.

In addition, we also paid a visit to the hatchery along the beach. While there were no new hatchlings yet, we sincerely hope that we would see some (the locals assure us that we will) before the end of the trip. That is certainly something we are all looking very forward to.

Following that, it was a full day of sorting out the schedules for the coming days, meeting the locals and making sure our Pink House was well-stocked up. Dehydration and the hot weather aside, everyone agrees that the day has been most fruitful.

Now, I wish we could put up more pictures but as mentioned before, the internet is pretty crappy. As such, we can only ask for your understanding and patience as we seek to provide more updates and images tomorrow.

That's all for now. House-painting tomorrow and we should best get some rest. Till tomorrow!

Chow Wee