Data from the radio tracking shows that some of these sea turtles spend their time in Singapore waters!What is the Satellite Tracking of Hawksbill Turtles
project about?
From Three more turtles deployed with satellite transmitters WWF website 18 Aug 08;
Melaka is home to the largest nesting population in Peninsular Malaysia, second only to Sabah’s Turtle Islands. Each year approximately 300-400 nestings are recorded by the State Department of Fisheries.
For the last three years, sea turtles nesting at Melaka have been tagged with radio transmitters to discover the foraging habitat and their migration patterns in the Strait of Malacca. The research data gathered is crucial in identifying and reducing threats to the turtles’ marine habitat, where they spend most of their lives. These hawksbills undertake their long journey every few years to Melaka beaches solely to complete their reproductive cycle.
Kem Terendak, Pulau Upeh and Padang Kemunting were specially chosen as deployment sites since these nesting grounds support three of the largest nesting populations of hawksbills in Melaka.
Which sea turtles tagged were found to spend time in Singapore waters?
From the satellite map provided by seaturtle.org , an adult female (MY4660/MY4401) who was tagged on 13 Jul 08 was last located on 31 Jul 08 in Singapore.
It looks like she ended up at our Southern Islands!
From the WWF website, an adult female (MY4488/MY4489) named Puteri Pulau Upeh, was tagged on 29 Aug 06 and was last located on 22 Feb 07 in Singapore at Sentosa!
Some details about her provided on the WWF website ...Puteri Pulau Upeh was first spotted on 29 July 2006 as she was nesting. She laid 108 eggs in an unusually shallow pit which she dug, on Pulau Upeh. The area where she nested was not easily accessible as it was obstructed by logs and infested with ants. She had what appeared to be the remains of a fishing net stuck in a crack on her carapace (the back of a turtle's shell). The fishing net and some barnacles were removed from her carapace and she was tagged with the tags numbers MY4488/MY4489. Judging by the size and appearance of her shell, it can be assumed that she was a young nester.
A KIWISAT 101 satellite transmitter was attached onto her shell on 29 August 2006, after her third nesting for the season. She was released at 2.20am the same night and was officially named Puteri Pulau Upeh by the State Chairman of Rural and Agriculture Development Committee, YB Datuk Haji Md. Yunos bin Husin.
Puteri Pulau Upeh begun her journey southwards on 14 September 2006. She crossed over to Singapore waters approximately two weeks later and has been detected at the southern island of Singapore ever since. She may be feeding amongst the patches coral reefs still existing around the area.
