According to the Fisheries Department it will soon make compulsory for trawl fishermen to use nets which are installed with a turtle excluder device (TED) to prevent turtles from becoming trapped or entangled in them. Fisheries deputy director-general (operations) Suhaili Lee informed that such trawl nets were being used in countries like Mexico and the United States of America.
Lee said that the nets were introduced to fishermen in the country five years ago. TED is a specialised device that allows a captured turtle to escape when caught in a fisherman’s net. At the launch of e-Turtle Information at the Rantau Abang Turtle Information Centre Lee said that turtles which were caught in trawl nets would die when they became entangled in them.
Lee told that as per the records gathered by the Terengganu Fisheries Department, only three leatherback turtles landed to lay their eggs at Rantau Abang this year. He added that were currently seven types of turtles in the world with four of them — leatherback turtle (Dermochelys), green turtle (Chelonia Mydas), ridley turtle (Lepidochelys Olivacea) and Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys Imbricita)– taking between 20 and 50 years to mature.
