World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

mydasThereMALAYSIATable 128 shows more detailed recent information for Terengganu State (AbdulRahman B. Kassim, in litt . 4 October 1986).Table 128. Number of E. imbricata nests in Terengganu (Abdul RahmanB. Kassim in litt. , 4 October 1986), with extrapolation of possible numberof females.No of nests No of females(Extrapolated)1984 151 501985 200 651986 (Jan-Aug) 199 65EXPLOITATIONComnodity Turtle eggs are a delicacy in Malaysia, and have traditionallybeen harvested by the coastal people. They are sometimes regarded asaphrodisiac. Most Malays are Muslims, and consider turtles haram andrefrain from eating the meat (Siow and Moll, 1982). The Chinese constitutethe second largest ethnic group in Malaysia (37%) but, although they eatfreshwater turtles, they are said not to eat marine turtles (Moll, 1976).Hunting intensity The harvesting of eggs is very extensive and is saidto be in the region of 100%. Estimated harvests for C. mydas andE. imbricata in 1978 are given in Tables 124 and 127 respectively. Morerecent harvests for the state of Terengganu alone are given in Tables 125and 128. The egg harvest for C. mydas in the southern part of the state wasestimated by Siti and de Silva (1985, unpublished) and figures for 1984(Table 126) indicate that this region produced 28% of the harvest for thewhole state (Table 125), 67% of the harvest coming from two islands in thenorth, Pulau Perhentian and Pulau Redang (Abdul Rahman B. Kassim in litt. ,4 October 1986). At Pasir Panjang Beach, on the west coast the eggcollection is completely unregulated and virtually all of the eggs laid arecollected (Lee, 1987; Moll, 1987).Hunting methods Most of the egg collection (in theory, all) is carriedout under licence. The rights to collect eggs on different beaches are putout to tender by the Government and are sold to the highest bidder. Nodeliberate capture of adult turtles is reported, but some are takenaccidentally in trawls and other fishing gear. The fish catch in Malaysiaincreased from 113 kt in 1956 to 565 kt in 1978, due partially to increasedfishing intensity. Prawn trawling on the west coast of the Peninsula isthought to be a serious threat to the turtles (Siow and Moll, 1982). Chanet al (1988) investigated the accidental capture of turtles, and found thateach trawl caught an average of 0.54 C. mydas in 1984 and 0.9 in 1985.Extrapolating from the number of trawlers, this led to an average annualincidental kill of 245. Drift nets were estimated to take a further 100C . . was said to be no accidental capture of E. imbricata . Chanet al (1988) pointed out that this represented an alarmingly highproportion of the nesting females.Historical trends The trends in the number of eggs harvested have beendiscussed under "trends in nesting numbers". It appears that between 1956322