Kota Kinabalu: There was yet another shock discovery of a "sea turtle killing field' with 19 "Totally Protected" Green turtles found massacred behind a beach in Pulau Tiga , on the northern side of the Balambangan-Banggi Channel near Pulau Banggi, Monday, about three hours by boat northwest of Kudat.Whistle blower Dr James Alin said a repeat of a pattern of deliberate sea turtle hunting and killing on the same island where some 50-60 turtles were butchered in March 2014, says only one thing: No lesson learnt as the enforcement agencies had failed yet again".Dr James said he found the failed lesson hard to swallow even though the big shocker last year hit maximum front-page headlines in the local dailies followed by a series feature articles highlighting the Balambangan-Banggi Channel as most likely the crime scene because the Channel is a regular sea turtle migratory route while Pulau Tiga's robust seagrass beds attract female turtles to forage and nest .
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"This means field information on both the whereabouts of turtle presence and the seasons of their escalated presence are predictable to enforcement authorities to set ambush to nab these environmental criminals," Dr James opined. "After all, the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1998 provides mandatory jail terms for violators who capture and kill Totally Protected Species of which Green and Hawksbill turtles are two god examples," he said. In the case of Pulau Tiga where such mass slaughters of turtles have been repeated, the authorities need only go to the field as he has done to talk to a tiny clan of land owners who would easily confirm that a history of turtle egg collection and turtle hunting are both facts, Dr James said. "All three groups of eye-witness accounts I met since last Christmas point to deliberate poaching," he said. "The first group comprised about five to six fishermen from Balambangan and Banggi who went to Pulau Tiga last December on the second day of Christmas 2014 – usually when the lowest tide of the year occurs and therefore the best time to walk around to collect sea cucumbers ," Dr James noted.
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"Like sea turtles and dugongs or even abalone, sea cucumbers thrive on seagrass," Dr James noted."So it's the habit of these Balambangan and Banggi fishermen to head for Pulau Tiga two or three days before and after Christmas each year," he said.
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"While there, they saw people casting turtle nets among the seagrass areas and while taking breaks ashore they saw these turtle hunters processing and cutting up turtles on the island," Dr James said."In January, I visited Kg Mengubau, Pitas, another group of about five fishermen also reported seeing turtle hunters casting turtle nets off Pulau Tiga. They also told me they saw the same turtle looting in 2014," Dr James said. "My latest trip to Kg Mengubau, Pitas, was just one week ago and the villagers explained to me the kind of turtle nets these hunters use and what time of the year they actively hunt and kill turtles,"Dr James said. "Descendants of a the small band of land owners told me that turtles actually lay eggs year round in Pulau Tiga but more turtles land to lay eggs in November and mid January," Dr James said. "Those are times when they say they can see female turtles foraging among the seagrass in shallow water sand therefore these are likely the females which also go ashore to lay eggs at night and they are likely the easy preys for the criminals ," Dr James said.These land owners once maintained a small settlement on Pulau Tiga, but after being repeatedly raided and robbed (pirates? kidnappers? ), they has abandoned their homes, except some graveyards of their ancestors. But weather is definitely affect turtle presence in Pulau Tiga, Dr James said." Female turtles don't like heavy rains," he said."So, if you look at nesting, usually the monsoons, that is, December to February , heavy rains batter the area and usually turtles do not nest when it rains and rains continuously but when the rains stop in between , for example, in mid January , they start coming up to lay eggs, " Dr James provide some useful details of the behaviour of turtles in the troubled area. All these are helpful basic information for the vanguards of wildlife to work out a strategy and tactic to halt the alarming slaughter once and for all of a deep and certainly lucrative tourism attraction before they are decimated by these environmental criminals. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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