Critically endangered hawksbill turtle hatchlings emerge from monitored nest at East Coast beach

SINGAPORE - About 120 critically endangered hawksbill turtle hatchlings emerged from their nest in East Coast beach and made their way to the sea under the watchful eyes of National Parks Board (NParks) conservation officers on Monday morning.

This is the first time in 2023 that turtles have hatched from a monitored nest.

“We were alerted by a member of the public who spotted a nesting turtle, and we went down and found the nest. We put a mesh over the eggs to ensure that natural predators like monitor lizards could not reach them,” Mr Collin Tong, deputy director of the coastal and marine branch at NParks, told The Straits Times.

The officers took measurements of the hatchlings to determine their health status.

The hawksbill turtle is one of two species of marine turtle that can be found in Singapore waters, the other being the green turtle.

Every year, a few female hawksbill turtles return to Singapore’s shores to lay their eggs.

To improve the hatchlings’ chances of survival, NParks established a turtle hatchery on Small Sister’s Island in 2018 to provide a conducive environment for turtle hatchlings to incubate, hatch safely and make it out to sea.

Professor Leo Tan, Emeritus Professor at the National University of Singapore and the chairman of the Garden City Fund, said: “If these hatchlings survive, some of them will return 30 years from now to nest.”

The hawksbill turtle is a protected species under the Wildlife Act, and members of the public are not permitted to collect the hatchlings or the eggs.

Members of the public who spot hatchlings or a nesting turtle are advised to keep a safe distance, keep noise levels low and avoid touching them.

Visit

www.go.gov.sg/turtle-advisory

for more information on what to do when encountering these animals.