SANDAKAN: A total of 269,731 turtles landed and laid eggs on three islands which comprise Turtle Islands Park of the Sabah coast from
1979 to 2015 or a span of 36 years.
The park comprising the islands of Selingan, Gulisaan and Bakkungaan Kecil covers an area of some 1,740 hectares, of which 18.2 hectares are on land while 1,721.8 hectares at sea.
Sabah Parks director Dr Jamili Nais said 22 million turtle eggs were collected while 16 million hatchlings were hatched during the same period.
Three hatcheries were built on Selingan, Gulisaan and Bakkungaan Kecil, the landing sites for the green turtle, the hawksbill turtle and the olive ridley turtle.
“The first hatchery was built on Selingan in 1966 followed by Gulisaan and Bakkungaan Kechil in 1968,” he said when briefing Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz here yesterday.
Jamili said the park was gazetted in 1977 and is one of the six marine parks in Sabah.
Turtle Islands Park is part of Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area in the waters of Malaysia and the Philippines, which includes nine islands. – Bernama