Kota Kinabalu: There is an urgent need for Sabah Parks to work with scuba diving operators to better guard the islands inside Tun Mustapha Marine Park from turtle poachers, said Prof. Dr James Alin.
He said the glamping tourism run by Foster at the island of Libaran off Sandakan is an excellent example of eco-tourism functioning as eyes and ears of marine conservation.
“As of now, except for Maliangin Island near Karakit, most of the isolated islands are empty, while the larger ones are occupied by illegal immigrants who don’t really have a strong reason to care for sea turtles or anything related to conservation,” he said.
James, who is Technical Advisor to Friends of Sea Turtles Education and Research, was commenting on the seizure of 9,000kg dried green turtle meat and other sea produce from a trawler in Mangsee reef waters between Pulau Banggi and Pulau Bangsi, off Kudat on Nov. 29.