DUNGUN: Three leatherback nesting visits along Terengganu's coast have yielded 195 eggs this September, marking the species' return to the state's beaches for the first time since the last recorded nesting in 2017.
The latest clutch, containing 70 eggs, was found at Kuala Abang beach in Dungun early on September 22.
Terengganu Fisheries Department director Pang Nyukang said the female came ashore at about 2am and returned to the sea around 5.30am.
The eggs were transferred to the hatchery at the Turtle Conservation Centre in Rantau Abang for incubation and are expected to hatch within 50 to 70 days.
The two earlier nesting visits took place at Pasir Putih beach in Marang on September 1, when 44 eggs were found, and at Rantau Abang beach on September 13, which yielded 81.
One turtle or three?
The number of nesting visits does not establish how many individual turtles are involved. Pang said the department believed all three visits over 23 days were made by the same female, measuring about 2.15 metres long and 1.15 metres wide.
In an earlier interview with RTM, he explained that leatherbacks can nest five to eight times in a season, coming ashore at intervals of several weeks.
While the return offers hope for conservation efforts, nesting records and egg counts alone do not establish that the species' population has recovered.
Hatching still to be monitored
Hatching success also remains to be monitored. In 2020, Sharum Yusof, then director of the Rantau Abang Fisheries Research Institute, said eggs from two leatherback nests found in 2017 had failed to hatch.
On September 4, the state government asked tourism operators and business owners along the Rantau Abang coastline to reduce lighting and activities that could disturb the turtles.
Datuk Razali Idris, chairman of the state's Tourism, Culture, Environment and Climate Change Committee, also urged fishers to take care during fishing operations to prevent turtles from becoming entangled in nets.
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