Foreign Tourists Keen To Be Turtle Conservation Volunteers In Terengganu

KUALA TERENGGANU (Malaysia), Jan 10 (Bernama) -- A number of foreign tourists from countries like England, Australia, German and the United States have shown interest to volunteer in the state's turtle conservation programme. Terengganu Fisheries director Zakaria Ismail said among the activities that volunteers could participate in were monitoring the beach, assisting to bury the turtle eggs for incubation and checking the nests. "The number of foreign tourists eager to volunteer increases every year," he said when contacted by Bernama here Tuesday. According to Zakaria, the department encourages and readily accepts such participation from foreign and domestic tourists alike as it would also directly show the world that Terrengganu, and Malaysia in general, is concerned and committed to conserving the habitat. In another development, he said the department managed to produce more than 86,000 turtle hatchlings through its hatching programme between 1996 and 2010. He said the hatchlings were from 1,123,648 eggs which were then released to the sea to thrive. Terengganu is a east coast state in Peninsular Malaysia. -- BENAMA