SMSUA's Green Earth Club Studies Turtles Under Microscope
By Abdul Aziz Pandin

Bandar Seri Begawan - Millions of sea turtles once roamed the Earth's oceans, but now only a small fraction remains. In fact, all seven species of sea turtles in the world are listed as threatened and endangered and protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Brunei is no exception in having a conservation programme for turtles landing in the Sultanate to nest.

A group of 38 students and teachers from the Sayyidina Umar Al-Khattab Secondary School's (SMSUA's) Green Earth Club in Mukim Lumapas recently paid an educational trip to the Serasa's Turtle Management and Conservation Centre.

The visit was aimed at increasing awareness among club members in the conservation of the sea turtles that land on Brunei's shores and to enhance their scientific skills.

The school has been active and took part in the conservation programme since 2004, which has involved its students from various levels, as well as the school's community. The group was welcomed by Hariel Hj Simpol, an officer-in-charge in the turtle conservation programme, and his assistant.

During their visit, the students were divided into two groups and had conducted scientific research on the turtles.

This included identifying the three species of turtles found in Brunei - the Green Turtle (chelonia mydas or Penyu Kangkam, Olive Ridley (lepidochelys olivacea) or Penyu Lipas and the Hawksbill Turtle (eretmochelys imbricata) or Penyu Sisik.

In their research, the students had to put their observation skills into test, where they investigated the anatomical aspects of the three sea turtles.

Different species are distinguished by varying anatomical aspects - for instance, the pre-frontal scales on the head or the number and shape of scutes on the carapace. From the students' observations, the three species do have different characteristics.

For the Green Turtle, they have found out that its body is almost oval in shape with four lateral scutes, head with a serrated jaw, and one claw on each ofthe front flipper and a claw on each of the rear flippers.

The Hawksbill, the most aggressive one, on the other hand, has four overlapping lateral scutes, head with a hawk-like beak, two claws on each front flipper and two on each of the rear flippers.

As for the Olive Ridley, which is the smallest among the three, it has six or seven lateral scutes, one claw on the front flippers and two on the rear flippers.

The other groups were doing measurements on the five-month-old Olive Ridley hatchlings that hatched last Jan 22. The students measured the length (SCL) and width (SCW) of every 10 hatchlings with digital vernier callipers.

The weights were also measured by using electronic balances. All the data were recorded on data worksheets.

The students have found out that the average SCL for the hatchlings are about 74mm, average SCW is about 68mm and average weight is 82.68g. All the worksheets were provided by the Science teacher-in-charge.

The students were given the opportunity to ask dozens of questions regarding the turtles. The students had learned that the major threats to marine turtles include unsustainable exploitation, destructions of nesting and feeding habitats, as well as incidental mortality in fishing operations.

Global issues like global warming were also discussed. The students were enlightened on how the conservation programme is carried out at the centre. During nesting seasons, patrolling would be conducted by the officers to locate any signs of nesting.

Once the eggs are extracted from the nest, they will be carried to the centre for incubation. When the eggs are hatched and after reaching 10 days, they will be fed with fish meat. Then after the hatchlings turn one year old, they will be released back to the oceans, where they will live on their own.

Before being released, they will be tagged (for Brunei, the tag code is BN, followed by running numbers - for example, right flipper BNO01 and left flipper BNO02).

Since the centre's establishment, about 5,000 turtles have been released. Most-of the turtles that have landed in the country are of Olive Ridley species. Later, the students also toured an exhibition hall, where they saw the specimens of preserved eggs and unborn hatchlings, as well as displays of corals. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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