Marine Turtle status Report - Indian Ocean - South-East Asian ...

5. Results5.1 Semi-structured interviews with island communities, enforcementagency officers and resort operators5.1.1 Species found in the vicinity of the island (including nesting, foraging,swimming and surfacing for air)Green and Hawksbill turtles were reported to forage, swim or surface in thevicinity of all six islands. Nesting was recorded on all islands with the exceptionof Boheyan Island that does not have Hawksbill nests (Table 4).Table 4: Nesting species occurrence on the islands.Island name Green turtle Hawksbill turtleKulapuan Yes YesBoheyan Yes NoPandanan Yes YesTimba Timba* Yes YesMataking Yes YesPom Pom Yes YesOn Timba Timba Island, there may be an unexpected species nesting on theisland. The turtle tracks were different from Green and Hawksbill turtle tracks.Island villagers have specific names for the turtles occurring in their area. TheGreen turtle is called Penyu or Bokko, while the Hawksbill turtle is calledTuhungan. In Kulapuan Island, Green turtle is called Penyu Bulan or BokkoBulai, while the Hawksbill turtle is also known as Tuhungan by the community.Both Green and Hawksbill turtles are called Payukan in Suluk (Table5).Table 5: Vernacular names of marine turtlesLanguagesSpecies Bajau SulukGreen Bokko/Penyu/Penyu Bulan/Bokko Bulai PayukanHawksbill Tuhungan PayukanOlive Ridley Unknown UnknownLeatherback Unknown Unknown5.1.2 Frequency of sightingGreen turtles were reported to forage, swim and surface for air more frequentlythan Hawksbill turtles. Green turtles were observed by interviewees to nest morefrequently than Hawksbill turtles as evidenced by the presence of tracks on thebeach and sightings of female Green turtles laying eggs. Datu Pengiran Ahmad ofPandanan Island mentioned that female turtles typically come up to the beachbetween 7pm and 9pm.14