The Terengganu Fisheries Department recorded about 30 turtle landings in the state since the beginning of January till March this year, for the nesting season.

Its director, Abdul Khalid Abdul Karim, said since the landing season was early this year, turtles laid about 13,000 eggs which were incubated for hatching before being discharged into the water.

“Pulau Redang recorded the most number of turtle landings with a total of 110 landings which had resulted in more than 10,000 eggs produced since early this year,” he told Bernama .

Other government coastal reserve areas frequented by turtle landings were  Mak Kapit in Kemaman and Rantau Abang in Dungun.

He said the eggs take between 50 to 70 days to hatch from the time they are buried for the incubation process.

Last year more than 600,000 eggs were incubated and about 400,000 were successfully hatched.

Talking about the death rate of turtles, he said the State Fisheries Department had recorded 40 deaths in Terengganu last year and the high death rate of turtles was disturbing. He hoped that fishermen would abstain from using nets or equipment that can kill turtles.

- Bernama