Rescuing sea turtles is vital as their numbers fall

Little dogs often walk with Du during his patrolling tours. Sometimes, travelers who want to see turtles laying eggs accompany him. Most of the turtles are Green Sea Turtles, or Chelonia mydas, a species which has existed since ancient times and is now listed in IUCN’s Red Book.

Under a wild pineapple plant, a mother turtle was seen lying in a hole larger and deeper than its body, dug with all four legs. It was dropping small white eggs into a small hole. 

In a small halo from the flashlight behind the mother tortoise, the eggs were seen constantly dropping. As small as a ping-pong ball, the eggs withstood a fall from about 40 centimeters. 

On average, turtles lay 100 eggs per nest.

Du begins and finishes his work at different times every day. Some mother turtles only finish their egg laying process when it is morning. So, when he takes eggs into the incubation area, it is also the time to release baby turtles from other nests. 

Each nest is marked with a bamboo stick that shows the laying time and number of eggs in the nest. This can help predict the time when eggs hatch. 

Du said turtles always return to their birthplaces to lay eggs, even if they have been traveling in the ocean for 10-30 years from birth to first return.

The ‘repatriation’ to birthplaces which is thousands of kilometers away from living areas lasts months long. Turtles can find their birthplaces because they can remember ocean currents, the Earth's magnetic field, the sandy terrain, and possibly the water's chemistry. 

Only one out of every 1,000 hatched turtles, or 10,000 eggs, will survive until adulthood. People’s assistance will help increase their survival rate. One mother turtle can lay three to seven nests of eggs each season, once every two weeks.

“Tortoises must lay eggs on the seashore, and eggs will get spoiled if they are under water for a long time. However, when turtles reach the shore and meet humans, lights and strange noise, they will leave,” said Pham Anh Dung from the Nui Chua National Park.

The bad news is that the number of turtles laying eggs in Vietnam has reduced rapidly. In the past, tens of thousands of Green Sea Turtle individuals came to lay eggs each year. Now, there are only a few hundred turtles. 

RELATED NEWS

Endangered sea turtles found at seafood wholesale facility

Vietnam strengthens protection of rare sea turtles