Tigabu Youth Club in Malaysia organizes first festival for marine turtles at Tun Mustapha Park, connects community
Tigabu Island’s Youth Club organized a festival at Tun Mustapha Park (TMP) this month which celebrated turtle conservation, helping bring together an entire community that has a love for its marine inhabitants. The festival focused on conservation work by the Tigabu-Tambulian-Kukuban Island Complex which has helped raise awareness about turtle conservation and its threats such as fish bombing, bycatch and cyanide use. Community involvement is highly encouraged and even necessary in order to conserve the turtles at the level needed- it’s amazing that TMP has such an amazing community ready to help!
ALSO: check out the video update regarding the Burmese star tortoise miracle in Myanmar! (In conservation section)
Turtle News From Around the World
Conservation
Myanmar: more on the Burmese star tortoise (Geochelone elegans) miracle (VIDEO)
USA: Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay and University of Georgia Savannah River Ecology Lab team up for gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus)
Health & Medical
Thailand: olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) found at Nai Harn Beach, sent for rehabilitation
Miscellany
USA: Pensacola fire station construction put on hold for gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus)
Did You Know…
Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a major issue for conservationists and is often related to a lack of resources, law enforcement, and community involvement. The more that protected species have of these things, the less IUU fishing will be seen.
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Photo from WWF-Malaysia/ Marine Programme.