Hoi An: sea turtles preservation and restoration in Cham Islands (13-06-2016)
Hoi An City has just issued a plan to preserve and restore species of sea turtles in Cham Islands on June 6th 2016.
Cham Islands are home to all kinds of marine turtles thanks to their coral ecosystems, sea grass and 9 sand beaches. In order to conserve sea turtles and marine ecosystems in the region, from now until 2025, Hoi An City has announced a plan on sea turtle protected area at the northeast of Cham Islands, focusing on Long island and Leaf island. Accordingly, rescue and conservation stations for sea turtles will be built including activities such as hatching, rescue, etc to improve the efficiency of the management, conservation as well as to create an environment for species of sea turtles to come and lay eggs.
Also, Hoi An will pay attention to minimizing agents which have a bad impact on sea turtles, and carrying out ex situ conservation of marine turtles. In one year, at least 10 turtle egg nests (eggs aged 20-30 days with natural incubation) will be moved from Con Dao National Park to Cham Islands to be hatched. After that, turtle babies will be released into Cham Islands. This task will be carried out in three years with the total number of eggs of about 3,000 eggs.
With this policy, Hoi An province aims at building Marine Protected Area in Cham Islands to become sea turtle conservation center in the Central Vietnam. This could help contribute to the successful implementation of the Viet Nam’s National Action Plan for the conservation of sea turtles in Vietnam by 2020, as well as international commitments on marine turtle conservation to which Vietnam is a member. Also, it will promote the development of tourism services in Hoi An. This would made a great contribution to the economic development of local community.
Over the past 3 years, Hoi An province has released 14 sea turtles into the wild in the Cham Islands.
In order to conserve sea turtles, from now to 2015, Hoi An province will choose the North East Cham Islands including Bai Bac, Hon Lao and other small islands belonging to Marine Protected Area in Cham Islands to establish and manage, protect the breeding grounds of sea turtles.
Giáng Hương