Hundreds Of Turtle Eggs Found On Malaysian Beaches As People Stay Home During MCO

Air pollution levels have drastically gone down in some of the world's biggest cities and a few rivers right here in Malaysia have been rejuvenated with much cleaner water than before.

Earlier in May, the Negeri Sembilan State Fisheries Office shared on Facebook that hundreds of turtle eggs were found at two different locations in the district.

State Fisheries Department director Halimi Abu Hanip explained to New Straits Times that authorities managed to obtain 118 green turtle eggs and another 110 from unknown species.

They were then taken to the Ornamental Fish Centre to be incubated for conservation.

"Turtles had landed to nest on the beaches in Port Dickson before, but this was scarce as these sea-dwelling reptiles were deterred by the rapid development and bright lights," Halimi said.

However, since the MCO was enforced, there have been no tourist crowds present at Port Dickson which allowed the sea turtles to return to the beaches.

According to Harian Metro, the Melaka Fisheries Department recorded four turtle landings in January, another 12 in February, and a total of 28 in March. 

Meanwhile, recent months have seen a drastic increase with 49 turtle landings recorded in April and 82 in May.

"Thankfully, the MCO and CMCO have reduced activities that could prevent turtles from laying eggs at our beaches, especially at the 13 main turtle landing locations along the western coast of Melaka," said Nawar Abdul Karim, who is state Fisheries Department deputy director.

Some of the areas that have become the focus of turtle landings in Melaka include Kampung Baru, Kampung Tengah, Tanjung Serai, and Telok Gong.

Nawar also added that 264 turtle hatchlings were recently released to the sea after 60 days of incubation at Turtle Information Centre Melaka.