Cu Lao Cham welcomes new batch of sea turtles

Nearly 2,000 turtle eggs brought from Con Dao Island have been successfully hatched in Cu Lao Cham Island in the programme to restore and conserve sea turtles in the Quang Nam Province's island.

Nearly 2,000 turtle eggs brought from Con Dao Island have been successfully hatched in Cu Lao Cham Island in the programme to restore and conserve sea turtles in the Quang Nam Province's island.

 

Baby turtles released to the sea

Nguyen Van Vu, deputy head of Cu Lao Cham Marine Protected Area Management Board, said on August 9 that this was the second group of sea turtle eggs this year that had been transferred from Con Dao to Cu Lao Cham and also the last one of the programme. As of now, the management board has received a total of 250 eggs.

This group of turtle eggs also has a high hatching rate of over 90%.

"Compared to previously, this time we’ve had strong winds and waves which threatened the survival chances of the turtles. We had to put up a fence around the incubation area," Vu said.

During the three-year-programme which was started in 2017, Cu Lao Cham has received six groups of sea turtle eggs. The first group consisted of 500 eggs and the next groups of eggs often consisted of nearly 1,000 eggs. After three years, 1,700 new sea turtles have hatched in Cu Lao Cham and were returned to the sea.