'Haul tells much bigger crime with staggering cost'
Published on: Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: The arrest of 12 men transporting 19,000 turtle eggs into Sandakan last week could have been part of a larger group, alleged the Tropical Research and Conservation Centre. Researcher Professor Steve Oakley on Tuesday said the haul of such a massive amount of turtle eggs requires a network of people from collection, storage and preparation before they could be dispatched to meet demands. "The arrest of the men last week could be cause for congratulations to the law enforcement process, but it represents a much larger crime with a staggering economic cost," he said in a statement, here.
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"Twelve men did not collect 19,000 eggs by themselves!" Illustrating his point, Dr Oakley said an adult female turtle can lay an average of 80 eggs at a time, so the recent haul represents approximately 240 nests. He said the turtle eggs could have only been gathered from infrequent nesting grounds in remote beaches and less inhabited islands, of which Sabah has a huge number between Malawali (near Kudat) and Sandakan. Dr Oakley noted the eggs could not have been poached from the protected areas due to the security.
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"Conservationists agree that anything more than one nest per kilometre of sandy coastline is unlikely: so those 240 nests could have come from a 240km long beach. "Even with refrigeration, unpasteurised, fertilised eggs are unlikely to keep for more than a week which reduces the likelihood of them having been collected over a longer period of time.
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"Therefore, criminals have collected every single egg that had been laid along 240km of our coastline within the last week alone," he said. Oakley said there are numerous economic benefits during the turtle nesting season, saying that resorts reported they receive around 60 people taking snorkeling packages on Pom Pom Island to view the nesting of the resident turtle population, which was around 30 individuals. "A three-day snorkel holiday on Pulau Pom-Pom specifically to see turtles retails for around RM1,000-RM1,800. "They also said the turtles were a big draw to the hundreds of people paying significantly more to participate in their diving packages," said Oakley, adding that the nesting of 30 turtles could fetch around RM84,000 annually. Oakley noted the fate of turtles remained slim as 99 per cent of them will die before adulthood. They either drown from fishing nets, eat or become tangled in sea trash, get hit by boats or simply be hunted for food, he pointed out. He believed only around 190 of them will reach maturity of around 30 years and return to the coastal zones to feast on seagrass, grow, mate, lay eggs and enchant tourists. However, Oakley said if 30 turtles could translate to RM84,000 a year for the tourism industry, the 190 turtles could be worth around RM532,000. "Over an (extremely conservative) adulthood of 30 years (many turtles live well past 60), 190 living adult turtles are worth a staggering RM15.96 million. "That money goes directly to the Malaysian economy. It pays taxes. It employs people. It educates, develops, preserves and protects," he said. He pointed out a RM50,000 fine, even applied on 12 boatmen, won't even come close to compensating the economy for such crimes. Oakley said there could be "someone" paying the beach-combers, transporters to a central location, wash and re-pack them, store the eggs, arrange boats and also receive at the point of the turtle egg destination. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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