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Help us to help!
This new section of our website introduces environmental services and issues. Please use the menu on the left to navigate to the page of your choice.
We are very concerned about a number of environmental issues. Some of them, such as increased carbon emissions and global warming, are already common topics of conversation and so we will not raise them here. Here are a small number of issues you may feel strongly about.
Turtle Hatchlings on the Perhentian Islands
As tourists we are often able to visit beaches where there are schemes to protect turtle eggs from poachers. We have such a scheme on our beautiful Tiga Ruang beach here on the Perhentians and I would encourage you to visit it. The project protects the eggs from poachers so you can't see turtles there, but the beach is the best of the island and really worth seeing.
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Keeping baby turtles in buckets is a bad practice that harms the hatchlings.
Turtles should be allowed to move directly to the ocean as nature intends after emerging from the egg. Please do not be fooled by explanations of keeping them 'to make them stronger' or other stories. Nicolas Pilcher, co-chair of the IUCN SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group and Executive Director of the Marine Research Foundation in Malaysia, has been kind enough to supply me with the reason why:
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"The hatchlings have preconditioned responses upon emergence. How do they know how to find the sea? How do they know how to swim offshore and not along the shore? These are all very complex behavioural traits that turtles MUST adhere to in order to be able to migrate offshore AND one day come back. This last bit is a crucial bit of the puzzle: If we mess with their navigation instincts, how will we know their fate? It will be 30 years before they come back as adults. Are you (the turtle holder) willing to vouch that they WILL be alive and the WILL have imprinted correctly?
Because if not, you are sending them to their death. Add on to that they come out at night for a reason- to migrate offshore through the first 12 or so hours of darkness when daytime predators (birds mostly) are sleeping) and nighttime predators are mostly feeding on the bottom - not on the surface. Then they swim offshore for four or five days more before folding flippers over carapace and kicking back to drift. They do this using the residual yolk sac left over from incubation - they do not feed during this first week. If we keep them swimming in buckets they lose that instinct to swim, and stop swimming when put in the ocean. If they are running around on sand in the buckets, they are burning off the only valuable fuel they have left to get to where they were supposed to go. It is a disaster no matter which way you do it."
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Simply put, it is not good to hold turtles or keep them in holding tanks (or buckets). If you see anyone around the Perhentian Islands keeping turtle hatchlings to show tourists then please feel free to report them to the department below (responsible for turtle conservation around the islands). Your help on this matter is particularly appreciated as you can assist in reporting matters that they may be concerned about.
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DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES
IBU PEJABAT JABATAN PERIKANAN MALAYSIA
Kementerian Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani
Wisma Tani, Aras 1 - 7
Blok Menara 4G2, Presint 4
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
62628 PUTRAJAYA
MALAYSIA
Tel : 03 - 8870 4000
Fax : 03 - 8889 2460
Email : hqhelp@dof.gov.my
Website : http://www.dof.gov.my
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Incidentally, the best way to see turtles on the Perhentian Islands is to book on a snorkelling or diving trip. Turtles should not be crowded or touched when you swim with them but you can still get reasonably near without stressing the animal. Hanging on is particularly discouraged as the turtle may become panicked, especially if it is trying to get to the surface to breathe.
As you have read this far you must be concerned about our environment! So I will also give you the address of the Marine Park Authorities to report to if you see any problems around the Perhentian Islands (2 nautical miles from the islands):
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Jabatan Taman Laut Malaysia
Kementerian Sumber Asli dan Alam Sekitar
Aras 11, Wisma Sumber Asli
No 25, Persiaran Perdana, Persint 4
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
62574 Putrajaya, Malaysia |
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Whale Sharks in Captivity
All I will say is 'why'? These large pelagic creatures are used to migrating thousands and thousand of miles to enjoy plankton-rich waters to feed in. So why keep them in aquaria? Surely that can't be easy; these gentle giants can reach a length of 15 m. It's not like keeping goldfish!
We would like to draw your attention to Atlanta Aquariums attempt to keep whale sharks in captivity. They have been very unsuccessful in their endevours, resulting in the death of 2 of these beautiful creatures to date. A beluga whale also has died at the same location.
http://www.cnn.com article about first death
http://www.nytimes.com article about second death
If you wish to write a letter to express you concerns about this issue then you can contact the Atlanta Aquarium via the address on their webpage.
http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/contactUs/
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