Turtle Tagging and International Tag Returns for Sabah, East Malaysia.
|
THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
|
Title :
Turtle Tagging and International Tag Returns for Sabah, East Malaysia. |
|
Author :
G.S. de Silva |
|
Abstract:
This paper describes the work of the turtle tagging project started in 1970 and discusses the results. Operations originally commenced on three privately owned islands which were subsequently acquired by the State solely for the conservation of Green and Hawksbill turtles. Initially, the project had to overcome native superstitions and later combat antipathy. Even though over 16,000 turtles have been tagged, returns are few and little light has been shed on migratory travel and its pattern. As with other turtle populations, the breeding colony found here undertake journeys over long distances. Minimum and maximum distances travelled by Green Turtles range between 259 km and 1,556 km and the times between tagging and recapture vary from 112 to 2,934 days. One Hawksbill turtle travelled 713 km in 40 days. Most tag recoveries terminated with' 'the capture of the turtle in Phihppine waters and further monitoring was impossible. There is no doubt that both species are capable of long distance travel. The turtles are a resource shared between Sabah and the two neighbouring republics. No males have been tagged. For the first time, recovery data on turtles tagged in the Philippines has been made available.
|
| DOI: XXXX |
|
How to cite:
G. S. de Silva. (1986). Turtle Tagging and International Tag Returns for Sabah, East Malaysia. The Sarawak Museum Journal, XXXVI (57): 263-272 |
|
References
|
