New Libaran Island turtle hatchery sees first landing within hours 

SANDAKAN – On the early morning of September 30, two green turtles laid their eggs on the shores of Libaran Island, marking another historical chapter for the sea turtle conservation work on Libaran. 

The eggs were laid in a new hatchery that was constructed on the northwestern side of the island, nearer to the village. 

Friends of Sea Turtles Education & Research (Foster) president Alexander Yee had personally supervised the construction of the hatchery which was completed within four days. 

“We could have completed the construction sooner had it not been for the heavy downpour. 

“Needless to say, we were ecstatic to have two sea turtle landings right after we had completed the construction of this new sea turtle hatchery, barely a few hours ago during the day,” Yee said in a statement recently. 

The new hatchery was named the ‘Aquagoat Sea Turtle Hatchery’ after a company based in the United States, AquaGoat Finance, which had sponsored funding for the construction of the new hatchery. 

The company had also funded a year of community beach cleaning on a 500m stretch on Libaran island. 

Foster has been operating a sea turtle protection programme on the island for the last nine years through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Sabah Wildlife Department on August 27, 2018. 

Through its work on Libaran Island, Foster has released more than 35,000 baby sea turtles into the ocean to date. 

“With this new hatchery, we will continue to collaborate with the community and ensure that more sea turtle landings on the island are taken care of,” said Yee. 

He also released 65 newly hatched baby turtles into the ocean on the same day. 

Meanwhile, AquaGoat Finance’s charity and outreach coordinator Jhunehl Fortaleza in a statement said that the company’s partnership with Foster is near and dear to her heart. 

“We are glad to finally see the hatchery set up. 

“What sets this sponsorship apart is that the amount will be paid using AquaGoat tokens, a next-generation ecological DeFi (decentralised finance) token. 

“AquaGoat token is a yield-generating social cryptocurrency which recognises the harmful effects of manmade processes on the oceans and aims to reduce, mitigate and reverse these effects. 

“The team of AquaGoat Finance, therefore, sets aside a part of every transaction fee to an AquaGoat 'Ocean Blue Fund' which the team uses to fund ocean cleaning and marine conservation initiatives,” she added. 

Members of the public who are interested in providing sponsorship or want to get involved in turtle conservation work on Libaran Island can email [email protected]. – The Vibes, October 9, 2021