Its director, Ruzaidi Mamat, said although the number showed a decrease compared with 78 deaths in 2019, he believed there were many deaths that were not reported to the department.

“For the first five months of this year, 20 deaths have been reported to the department and we hope this number will continue to drop following less ‘disruption’ in Terengganu waters during this period,” he told Bernama.

“Usually, turtle deaths are reported when they are caught in fishing nets or in accidents such as being hit by a boat propeller. There was only one recent case of the brutal killing of a female turtle at Pulau Kapas in Marang by perpetrators who wanted to steal her eggs.”

He did not rule out the possibility that restrictions in the tourism industry since the movement control order (MCO) implemented in March last year had contributed to the recent drop in turtle deaths.

Ruzaidi also said 8,195 turtle nests were recorded last year involving 1,024 nesting females. This was an increase over the 7,913 nests found involving 990 turtles in 2019.

During the year, a total of 662,097 eggs were incubated at 48 landing beaches and 443,721 baby turtles were released into the sea.

“On average, only one in every 1,000 hatchlings will grow while the rest are eaten by predators at sea,” he said.

Based on the department’s records, green turtle landings in Terengganu have also shown a significant increase compared with the early stages of the turtle conservation programme initiated by the fisheries department.

“In the 1990s, there were fewer than 5,000 nests a year but after 20 years, they doubled with a record 10,040 landings in 2016.

“It is hoped that this conservation effort continues to receive cooperation from the community so that the endangered sea turtles can be protected ,” he said.