64 Sea Turtles And A Dugong Found Dead In Sabah Within A Month

KOTA KINABALU: The recent discovery of a decomposing carcass has raised questions about the fate of a rare marine mammal believed to be found only at an island off Sabah’s northern Kota Belud district.

The body of an adult 1.5m-long dugong was found by staff and guests of a resort at Pulau Mantanani at about 3pm last Friday.

He said the dead dugong was rotting when it was found, indicating that it had died several days ago. Zamzani said as there were no obvious external injuries on the carcass, it could have died from internal wounds.

He said among the possible causes was fish bombing which was still prevalent around the island. “It could have been that someone had tossed in an explosive into the water and this creature happened to be nearby,” Zamzani added. He said this was the first sighting of a whole dugong carcass at sea, adding that dismembered parts of such an animal had been found washed ashore several years ago.

Bembaran Beach Resort owner Zamzani Pandikar Amin said the dugong could be one of the 12 to 15 mammals that were found grazing on sea grass at the shallow reefs around the island. “It’s sad that the island is the only sanctuary for these special animals.”

“Sighting these animals is becoming rare compared to 10 years ago. This is a big loss of these unique creatures,” he said, adding that, as far as he knew, Mantanani was the only known grazing ground for dugongs in Malaysia.

Four more dead turtles were found in the waters off Semporna town, between the Bum-Bum and Kulapuan islands, yesterday. The discovery was made by a State Fisheries Department staff who was on his way home when he saw the carcasses afloat.
He then took pictures showing the sea turtles tied with what appeared to be nylon rope or fish net, and posted it on his Facebook account.

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Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun in confirming this at the Sabah State Legislative Assembly Sitting here today said he has ordered the Sabah Wildlife Department to carry out a full investigation on the matter.

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KOTA KINABALU: State wildlife authorities are investigating the discovery of 60 decomposing turtle carcasses on a remote northern island here.

State Tourism, Culture and Envi­ronment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said that Sabah Parks officials were probing the discovery by Universiti Malaysia Sabah academician Dr James Alin at Pulau Tiga, an island under the proposed Tun Mustapha marine park.

Daniel said after seeing the photographs of the dead turtles, he felt that Pulau Tiga resembled a “killing field” of the marine creatures. “We cannot allow this to persist in our backyard. Something has to be done and one of the first steps is making the area a marine park, which we have been waiting for for at least 10 years,” he added.

UMS School of Business and Economics lecturer Dr James Alin said there is a huge market for parts of these endangered species, with fresh turtle meat fetching up to RM300 per kg, while dried ones are sold at RM100 per kg.

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He said foreign fishing vessels preferred buying live sea turtles, with an adult turtle fetching RM2,000 each and juveniles RM1,300 each.

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The discovery has raised concerns among various NGOs, including the Sabah Tourist Guide Association, whose president Daniel Doughty said it should be the impetus to gazette the island as a marine park. “A marine park status will mean more protection for all creatures in its zone,” he said.

According to the Sabah Parks website, the proposed 1.02mil ha Tun Mustapha marine park encompassed more than 50 islands and islets located across Kudat, Pitas and Kota Marudu districts in Kudat-Banggi Priority Conservation Area.

The proposed marine park has a unique biodiversity that supports a series of complex and linked habitats and is home to endangered marine animals such as green sea turtles and dugongs.