The Star was the only daily that carried the article which says that the sale of turtle eggs would soon be legalised in a so-called attempt to “thwart any unlawful sales.”
OK soon to sell turtle eggs
DUNGUN: The state government is expected to review the Fisheries Act to allow the issuance of licences to turtle egg traders here.
State Agriculture and Regional Development committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jidin Shafee said that in an unprecedented move, the regulations would be amended to monitor the sales of turtle eggs.
“We are in the midst of making a proposal, hopefully to be tabled by next year, so that licences can be issued to egg collectors and traders, making the activity legal,” he said after releasing 500 turtles hatchlings to the open sea along the shoreline at Rantau Abang here yesterday.
Mohd Jidin said, currently, the sales of eggs from Terengganu beaches were prohibited and those caught doing so could face action.
However, he noted that illegal sales were rife and difficult to control without a proper monitoring system.
Quoting a recent report from The Star on the sale of turtle eggs in Pasar Payang here, he said the state government was concerned over the indiscriminate sales.
He said with the issuance of the licence, the relevant authorities including the State Fisheries Department, could thwart any unlawful sales.
He said the Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Center (Tumec) here was successful in incubating enormous number of eggs and realising the hatchlings back to the sea.
Mohd Jidin said hundreds of hatchlings were released daily at Rantau Abang here.
Earlier, some 500 hatchlings were released along the beach at Rantau Abang here in conjunction with the upcoming double festive season.
The hatchlings headed straight to the open sea after they were released by Mohd Jidin, Tumec chief Kamarruddin Ibrahim and other local leaders.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that the remaining turtle populations in Malaysia will soon become extinct with the legalization of the sale of turtle eggs. But why aren’t are the st*pid leaders getting the hint?! An archive search led to an array of rebuttals from politicians, academics, and from the public. And all these rebuttals actually fall on deaf ears?!
Legalizing the sale of turtle eggs will only drive the remaining species to extinction. FASTER. If you don’t already know, we are purchasing river terrapin eggs from the Setiu villagers for RM4 each. Four-freaking-ringgit for an oval-shaped egg that contains comparable amount of nutrients as a chicken egg. And the marine turtle eggs are only reaching RM1.60 each. There is still a long way to go until the villagers deem those eggs “too expensive”. But when that happens, they’ll probably not be able to see the turtle AND the eggs anymore.
Legalizing the sale of turtle eggs will only heighten the sales. NOT thwart them. Every local folk will lay their hands on as many eggs as possible because why, those eggs can be sold for a reasonably high price, compared to chicken eggs which costs about 30sen each!!
Immediately after the article was published, it was picked up by BBC with the headlines screaming Malaysia turtle egg plan “crazy”. Do you see what I see? I think it is very embarrassing that we have environmentalists from another country branding what we do with our own natural resourses as “crazy”. In fact, I find it very humiliating.
Malaysia turtle egg plan “crazy”
Environmentalists have branded a plan to protect turtles in Malaysia by licensing turtle egg collection in a key breeding areas as “crazy”.
The authorities in Terengganu state say the plan to legalise the trade will help them control it better.
Conservationists say it will drive the creatures further towards extinction.
Tourists used to come in droves to Terengganu, on peninsular Malaysia’s east coast, to watch thousands of turtles come ashore to nest each year.
But illegal egg collection and modern fishing practices have driven many turtle species to the brink of extinction.
Dismal
Terengganu’s head of agriculture and regional development, Mohamad Jidin Shafie, says conservation efforts seem to have failed.
He says banning egg collecting merely raises prices and encourages poaching.
But many environmentalists are aghast.
They say the local government’s attempts to stop the turtle egg trade have been dismal - eggs are on sale openly throughout the state.
And they have described the plan to regulate the practice as “crazy” and “simply not thought through”.
Conservationists say it would make it impossible to tell whether eggs have been collected legally or not.
Instead, they want a properly monitored ban and more support for their efforts to buy back stolen eggs.
Earlier this year Terengganu dropped the turtle as the state’s mascot in favour of the clown fish.
The state’s chief minister said it was an agile and dynamic symbol.
Environmentalists suggested the fish’s main attraction was that, unlike the turtle, it had not been all but wiped out in the area.
Now, imagine a foreigner friend of yours comes to your house and calls you crazy for treating your children the way you do.
And if you remember, this same st*pid Datuk proposed that a portion of the RM5mil allocated for turtle migration studies be spent on a breeding project of sea and river turtles.
Hopefully, hopefully the Mentri Besar is smart enough to know what is right and what is wrong.
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