Published on January 10, 2005

Marine researchers are awaiting the return of a leatherback turtle that laid eggs on Phuket’s Mai Khao Beach late last week – the first member of this endangered species to visit the island in three years – to fit it with a tracking microchip, a local sea-turtle expert said yesterday.

Dr Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre said that the turtle, which laid 80 eggs, would be back for a second round of egg-laying within 10 days as this was the species’ habit.

A team from centre will observe the turtle and fit it with a Bt100,000 microchip that will allow its movements to be tracked via satellite.

The centre has so far implanted such chips in one Olive Ridley turtle, one loggerhead turtle and 30 green and hawksbill turtles, he said.

Kongkiat yesterday visited the site of the turtle’s nest with Chaeng Saeiew, a member of the Ban Mai Khao sea-turtle conservation group who is now taking care of the 80 eggs.

Judging from the traces it left, the turtle could weigh more than 400 kilograms and be about 1.20 metres long and 1 metre wide, Kongkiat said, adding that it was probably more than 20 years old.

The turtle’s eggs are being kept in a Styrofoam box at 34 degrees Celsius. Care is being taken that the temperature does not go below 28 degrees, he said, as eggs kept at low temperatures would probably produce more males and could be spoiled by fungi in the damp atmosphere.

Manop Tidsang, leader of the Ban Mai Khao sea-turtle conservation group, said the group’s 110 members would post guards in shifts to ensure that no one disturbed the turtle when it returned to lay eggs.

According to Phuket Wildlife Fund official Wichote Kraithep, the massive tsunami waves on December 26 cleared away the fishing boats and fishing gear that had prevented the turtles from nesting on the beach for so long.

Wichote said activists had long requested a ban on fishing boats and equipment within an 8-kilometre radius of Mai Khao Beach, but the authorities claimed to lack the personnel and funds to prevent fishing vessels from sneaking in.

He proposed three steps to protect sea turtles: declaring Sirinart National Park a no-fishing zone, prohibiting big hotels on Mai Khao Beach (there are two at present and four more planned), and banning the sale of food or goods made from turtles.

Punnee Amornviputpanich

The Nation

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