Why Do Sea Turtles Matter?

To ensure that our ocean is healthy, we must protect and conserve the components that made up the ocean, which in this case are the sea turtles.

Sea turtles helps control the balance in food web – For example, hawksbills help by eating sponges that overgrown and allows slow-growing corals to have a bigger chance or survivability in terms of space, green turtles feed on seagrasses and help the continuity of healthy seagrass beds.
Sea turtles are an important food source for other animals – Birds, fishes, mammals and reptiles like monitor lizards and others prey on hatchlings to survive. Nutrients left behind by hatchlings and unhatched eggs is used by coastal plants.

Sea Turtle Research Unit (SEATRU)

Sea Turtle Research Unit (SEATRU) of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) began 37 years ago to carry out long-term conservation of sea turtles in an effort to restore the sea turtles species to a stable population level. Multiple efforts conducted by SEATRU to protect sea turtles include in situ egg incubation program, nesting and tagging research. SEATRU has since developed into a multi-disciplinary program aimed at studying all aspects of biology and ecology of sea turtles and information technology on cloud database. Besides carrying conservation-oriented research on sea turtles, SEATRU is also directly involved in outreach programs related with education of university students, school students and the public such as Marine Awareness Program, Public Viewing Lab, Kem Si Penyu, and Education Day-Trip to the sea turtle nesting beach located at Pulau Redang.

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Sea Turtles

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Ocean Hope