Picture Show……Honarary Wildlife Warden Harun Harris (left)
giving the teachers and students briefing when they visited Tamna Hadiah Turtle
Hatchery on Libaran Island 于国坚
(Alexander Yee)
BY:
MUSTAFFAH MOHD HASSAN-FST
Friday
December 16/2016
SANDAKAN: A group of students and teachers of SMK Tamparuli Tuaran,
recently visited Walai Penyu Resort on Libaran island as part of their
educational trip organized by Friends of Sea Turtle Education & Research
(FOSTER).
Walai Penyu Resort director and FOSTER president Alexander
Yee worked with this school during last year’s Petronas “ All About Youth “
national competition and decided that this year, he continues the working
relationship by sponsoring the school kids to visit the turtle conservation program
on the island of Libaran. He feels that the kids should also get down to the
ground and experience conservation first hand.
A turtle hatchery was set up by FOSTER as part of a turtle
conservation program made available through the signing of a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with the Sabah Wildlife Department in July 2013. The
program includes creating awareness for the locals and visitors on the
conservation value of sea turtles, undertaking research projects with the goal
of better understanding the life cycle of sea turtles surrounding the Libaran
island area and to make available research programs on sea turtle for
international and local students.
Since 2012 till June 2016, that hatchery has collected
20,262 Green Turtle eggs and 10,598 Hawksbill Turtle (totaling 30,860) eggs. Of
these, 16,034 baby Green Turtles and 7,474 baby Hawksbill Turtles (totaling
23,808) have been successfully released into the ocean.
As part of the turtle conservation program, FOSTER is also
conducting a community beach cleaning project on the island. A stretch of 1.2km
of beach is clean daily by the locals and they are paid from the amount raised
via corporate sponsorships. A clean beach will ensure good health for the local
villagers and easy landing for the sea turtles to lay their eggs.
“I am glad to be able to sponsor them
to go on this trip as I am certain the experience will benefit them a lot in
terms of actual conservation works and also the value of conservation” said
Alexander.
“I have worked with teachers Earnest Kelly Subin and
Vinddy Gabriel before and they have real passion for their work and have always
been able to bring out the best in their student. These are the top 6 students
of Form 4 year and their four day- trip included Libaran island, Sepilok and
the lower Kinabatangan. These are areas with tremendous wildlife values within
Sabah and there are a lot of conservation works being done. I am certain they
will benefit a lot,” added Alexander.
“We are indeed glad to be given this
opportunity. When we arrived the island, we were given an orientation by
honorary wildlife warden, Harun Harris. And then we had the opportunity to
participate in beach cleaning” said Ernest.
“While we did not witness a turtle
coming ashore to lay her eggs, we joined in the release of the baby turtles in
the late afternoon. It was a fantastic experience.” Earnest said.
During the four day trip, the school team also visited the
Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, the Borneo Sun Bear Conservation
Center and Kampung Bilit in Lower Kinabatangan.
They were briefed by Kinabatangan – Corridor of Life Tourism
Operators Association (KiTA) coordinator Aileen while at Kg Bilit about the
conservations work done along the Lower Kinabatangan before returning by road
to Tamparuli, Tuaran.
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