KUALA TERENGGANU: The Sungai Setiu has a “good” number of river and painted terrapins five years after no juveniles were recorded in the river. The “Mark, Release and Recapture” programme, which began in late January, revealed a significant juvenile terrapin population in the river. The programme, run by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu’s Turtle Research and Rehabilitation Group, saw participating fishermen catch 34 painted terrapins and 20 river terrapins.

KUALA TERENGGANU: Malaysia is the last stronghold in the world when it comes to the conservation of painted and river terrapins.

The country, in particular Terengganu, has a significant population of terrapins compared with other countries in Southeast Asia, Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) chairman Rick Hudson said yesterday.

This is good news because the two species are on the critically endangered list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

TSA is a non-governmental organisation which is committed to zero turtle extinction. It was formed in 2001 and is based in the United States.

The number of river terrapins (Batagur affinis) and painted terrapin (Batagur borneoensis) in the world dwindled due to poaching and over consumption of their eggs.

“Malaysia is where we have to make a stand for these two species. Setiu is ground zero for such efforts. It is the best opportunity we have to conserve a viable wild species as there is a critical mass here. Conservation work is crucial for the survival of the terrapins,” he said, adding that Setiu had good prospects for the population recovery of the terrapins.

TSA will work closely with Universiti Malaysia Terengganu’s Turtle Research and Rehabilitation group.

The conservation efforts at the Setiu river by the group’s leader, Prof Chan Eng Heng, caught the organisation’s eye.

Hudson said TSA would help with the implementation of such projects, including the expansion of recovery programmes in other sites in Malaysia.

“There are a lot of conservation efforts here, but the science of it is lacking. That is why we are interested in widening Prof Chan’s project. Besides saving terrapins, we hope to usher in the next generation of turtle biologists.”

Hudson also said there was good potential in Malaysia for the conservation of the Siamese narrow-headed soft shell turtle (Chitra chitra) and the Malaysian giant river turtle (Orlitia borneensis).

Chan, a lecturer in UMT’s Institute of Oceanography, was happy to learn that her efforts in Setiu had been recognised by the organisation.

“I just hope the Federal government and state governments realise we have these species in our country. And, if outsiders are interested in helping us to prevent the terrapins from becoming extinct, we should pay more attention,” she said.

KUALA TERENGGANU: The Year of the Ox has brought a lot of luck for a turtle volunteer programme here or maybe showered it with a bit too much fortune!

The Save Our Turtles Outreach Programme (STOP), conducted by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, recently received more than 700 applications, with over 500 submitted on the first day of registration.

However, only 336 volunteers have been accepted, which is an increase compared with last year’s 215.

STOP, based in Chagar Hutang which is part of the Redang Island, involves gotong-royong, tagging of turtles and in situ egg incubation. It runs from April to October every year.

Apart from the volunteer programme, STOP also has three adoption schemes, namely, terrapin, turtle and turtle nest adoption. Since its inception in 1998, more than 1,000 local and 100 foreign volunteers have participated.

STOP research and public outreach officer Chen Pelf Nyok said she was surprised to see so much interest despite expecting a lot of applications.

“We did not expect so many applications. It took me five hours to reply 100 emails, telling them we had to turn them down as we are overbooked.”

Chen believes the surge in applications is due to good word of mouth though it was unfortunate that they could not accommodate more participants.

As it is, they have increased the number of participants from eight to 12 for each slot. There are 28 slots this year.

However, Chen said, there is never too much of a good thing as more participants mean more people to help raise awareness.

“As the majority of the participants are youngsters, this means we are planting the conservationist seeds early for the future generation.”